A Brand New Day-Lost Love and Second Chances
by Lizziekat15
Summary: This is my first posting -I was pretty irked when the character of Beth was killed off. I felt she and Daryl had some good chemistry and a potentially interesting story arc. I tried to think of a way for Daryl to be happy without bringing Beth back alive, I thought bringing someone from his past into his present might help.
1. Chapter 1

A Brand New Day

Inspired by a song by Sting.

Madelyn Cross was an eighteen year old college student. She grew up in an affluent suburb of DC-her father was a lobbyist in Washington, and her mother spent her days attending teas, luncheons, charity events. She was the youngest of four children, two older brothers and one older sister. They have all graduated college and started their own lives. Madelyn has spent her life in opulent surroundings and instant gratification. She spent her weekends attending parties at her friends' houses or shopping aimlessly at the malls and lunching with her friends. Her friends were like her-little to no parental oversight, no worry about money as they all had credit cards with no limit taken care of by their parents. Maddie had grown increasingly restless her junior year, and at the beginning of her senior year she decided this type of lifestyle was not making her happy –she wanted to see the world and was tired of the drinking and drugging and random sex she and her friends were involved in out of general ennui with their lives. She knew her parents expected her to attend a good college and land a fantastic husband and a wonderful career she could retire from when she started having children. She sometimes felt that her parents and their crowd had become stuck in an alternate universe which was permanently mired in the '50s and early 60s. Everyone was beautiful, rich and bored and no one veered from the well prepared path before them. Maddie decided she no longer wanted this-a life preplanned and a future of alcohol and prescription drugs (because drugs were acceptable if your doctor gave them to you), an unfaithful husband (everyone she knew had parents who were divorced or lived in separate residences), and years of unhappiness until she died.

She applied to several small colleges out of weekend visiting range from her mother-not that her mother paid much attention to her and she doubted her mother would have visited her often even if she'd attended college right there in VA or DC. She accepted the offer from the small liberal arts college in central Georgia because she'd never been to Georgia and one of her favorite books was Gone With The Wind. She had a romanticized idea of attending college with handsome men with a Southern drawl and enjoying a more laid back, less stressful pace of life. She had always heard everything moved at a leisurely pace in the South. Her parents had protested-but she had refused to back down. They half heartedly agreed, believing that after spending a few months in some sticky Southern backwater surrounded by people they were sure resembled those from the movie Deliverance she would be more than ready to come home.

She arrived in August in the small college town about two hours south of Atlanta to move into her dorm, get her classes set, find her way around the campus and set about making friends. The town was not at all like the city she grew up in. One small shopping mall with none of the fancy stores she's used to shopping in. No five star restaurants-some fast food chain places, a couple of local diners. A Piggly Wiggly and a small local grocer. The only movie theater is a half hour drive to the next county's three screen theater. There are more churches than anything else in the town and she found that most of the folks she encountered while registering at the college or buying groceries were so earnest and sincere in their interactions with her that it was unnerving. She had never attended church except for weddings and funerals and these people were very open about their faith in God and their desire to impart their ideas regarding Jesus to any and all they met. It made her uneasy in a way she couldn't quite pin down-she felt like a "sinner" without any clear idea of what exactly encompassed the definition of a "sinner". In her world, no one thought twice about supplying teenagers with alcohol at parties, most of her friends had freely and casually smoked pot or popped pills. The majority of her friends had lost their virginity by age fifteen/sixteen at the latest. Their parents had ensured the daughters were on birth control by middle school to prevent any unwanted pregnancies-as if they took it for granted their daughters would be sexually active. It was a life of benign neglect-everyone's parents were busy and she and her friends lived their lives without any real guidance or input from their parents. There were maids and cooks and housekeepers and gardeners and pool boys-but no one to ask them how their day had gone, what did they want to have for dinner, did they need help with homework, how was their boyfriend, did they want to go shop for a prom dress? Maddie supposed that if she let herself really think about it she had picked a college in the South because she had always read books and watched movies that depicted folks in the South as affectionate, friendly, kind, welcoming-she hoped unconsciously to find a family finally, or at least find friends that made her feel like it would matter to them if she disappeared off the earth.

Shortly after she settles into her dorm, her roommate-Stephanie- asked Maddie to join her in barhopping at the local watering holes. Steph assured Maddie that she had been assured by her older cousin who had previously attended the college that the local bars were shit holes, full of the local trash but that they didn't card anyone and not only could they drink without worry but you could also be sure to be able to obtain pot or anything else you liked at these bars. Two of the bars were on the opposite ends of the town, in slightly run down, seedier neighborhoods. The third was just a mile outside town, on an old gravel road and definitely the more run down of the three. It was also frequented by the more hard core trash of the town.


	2. Chapter 2

They decided to try the first two bars before venturing out on the gravel road to the last place. And they decided there would be safety in numbers, so they invited as many other girls as they had made acquaintance with in the two weeks since they'd moved into their dorm. A total of eight girls agreed to accompany them on their "adventure" as well as ten guys-they were eager to get shithoused before the grind of the first semester set in. For the most part the students Maddie had met were more interested in partying than attending their classes and getting good grades. Maddie suspected a good many of them would flunk out by Christmas. She had never made any effort at studying or attending her classes on a regular basis in high school-she was naturally bright and getting good grades had always been easy for her. She anticipated college would not be much different and was determined to at least keep up a pretense of attending college so her parents had no excuse to make her return home.

They started out on a Friday evening in mid August about seven pm. A few of them had had starter beers before they headed out to be more in the mood for the evening. Stephanie was driving, and they had four other girls squeezed into the car with them. While Stephanie drove, the rest passed a joint around. They were restless, anxious, a little nervous. Hoping to have a good time and that the locals wouldn't be like the locals in Deliverance. The first two bars were nothing remarkable-not too incredibly shitty and no Deliverance characters either. They all played pool, monopolized the jukebox, danced on the tiny area they cleared for themselves. The locals just seemed to shrug at the new crop of freshman from the college out to investigate the local bars, and knew within a short time the numbers would dwindle and they could go back to hanging out in their bar without any smart alecky, rich as hell snobby freshman bumping into them and playing their goddawful music on the jukebox. The locals knew that by the time these kids got to their sophomore year, if they didn't flunk out, they rarely showed themselves at the local bars-they usually had moved into their own houses or apartments and entertained themselves in their own places. The locals had gotten used to the annual flood of freshman into their hangouts and by now pretty much ignored the kids, comfortable in the knowledge they'd be out of their hair within a few short weeks.

By midnight, Maddie and Steph's group had dwindled to five guys and three other girls and three cars. They were all pretty trashed, but no one wanted to go back to the dorm just yet. They all still wanted to kick up their heels a bit more. They decided to hit the third bar. Someone said the bars didn't close until four am here-Maddie didn't think any of them would be able to last that much longer drinking and smoking like they had been so far, but she was ready to find out.

The bar looked like it was about to fall over with a slight push from anyone. The sign said Bar in neon letters, but only the B was lit up. The parking lot was just a clearing in the gravel from the road and was filled with bikes and rusted and beat up trucks. Maddie felt a little tickle start in her stomach at the sight of the place-she'd gone slumming with her friends back home but this place was absolutely the worst bar she'd ever seen. She expected a boy to start strumming a banjo on the porch any minute.

They stepped inside and stopped dead in their tracks. The room was small-barely enough room for one pool table, a couple of tables and then the bar alongside one wall. It was poorly lit, and the thick cloud of cigarette smoke that hung in the air only added to the difficulty in trying to see into the room. There weren't a lot of patrons-maybe fifteen-but they were all far more rough than the patrons they'd seen in the previous two bars. Most looked to be in their thirties or forties, with one or two looking closer to sixty. All were dressed in tattered, worn jeans, t shirts, some had camo on. Boots, not expensive boots but boots you wear to hunt or work in a lumber yard or something. Many had hats on, not baseball caps but John Deere caps or something similar. Many were smoking, some were spitting into cups or on the floor. None of them turned around to look at Maddie and her group, they were busy shooting pool or watching the lone tv and silently drinking their beer. The bartender was an older woman who looked like life for her had indeed been hard.

Maddie cleared her throat nervously, feeling that her buzz had slipped quite a bit. This was like some movie about folks in the Appalachians or something. One of the guys in her group said he would get them some beers, why didn't they grab a table if they could. She started, then straightened her shoulders and strode briskly across the room to find a couple of tables –if she didn't trip over something in the damn gloom. As she sat down facing the way she'd come in, and her friends made their way towards her, she felt eyes on her. She looked up and saw a man standing at the pool table facing her, pool cue in his hand. He was probably in his mid thirties, dirty dark hair, stubble on his face, wearing a jean jacket with the sleeves cut off and dirty, tattered jeans. Probably some old work boots on his feet. He just stared at her, eyes as blue as the bluest sky she'd ever seen. She felt a jolt go through her when she looked into his eyes. As if acknowledging her reaction, he looked down and then up again slowly, a small smirk on his mouth. He leant the cue against the table, lit a cigarette and took a long drag off it, never taking his eyes off hers.

Her mouth had fallen open a little, and she realized she'd been holding her breath. She shook her head in exasperation with herself and turned to face her friends beside her at the table. "There's no jukebox here, no band. This place is a waste of our time, let's have a beer and then go on back to the dorm," one of the girls with them whined. Another girl agreed. One of the guys complained that there was only one pool table and they didn't feel comfortable asking the locals to give them a turn at the table. All the while Maddie could feel his eyes on her, as she tried not to look back at him and act like she was interested in what was being said. She felt impatient, wanted to tell them to shut up and go on back then, she was staying. She had always had confidence in herself-knew she was beautiful, had had her fair share of boys declaring she had broken their hearts, she was a tease, she was heartless. She never doubted she could make any boy she wanted fall in love with her-or at least in lust enough to twist them around her finger. And to be honest, she and her friends had enjoyed in a childish cruel way the power they'd had over the boys they knew. Some of her friends had started sneaking out with older guys-guys in college or older and told her often older guys were so much more interesting. She had never been interested-she knew she could handle guys her age, older guys? She didn't want anyone having power over her, didn't want anyone breaking her heart. She had seen her friends cry when they found out the guy who said he loved them was in fact married, or carrying on with three or four other girls, or just never intended on being serious with them after leading them on for months. No thanks, she told herself. But this man-this man was different. He was at least fifteen years older than her-way out of her comfort zone age wise. He was far rougher than anyone she'd ever been around, looked like he'd as soon knock her teeth down her throat as speak to her. But his eyes-she realized she'd been staring at him again, her mouth slightly open, her cheeks flushed. And he was staring at her as well, not as openly as she was him-but he was staring just the same.

"Are you gonna play pool tonight or stare at all the rich college bitches that are in here? Ya know this happens every fall, they come in here to see the lay of the land and in a few weeks they're sticking close to their cozy little dorms. Nothing exceptional about this year's batch, same old same old. Little girls looking for excitement in the big bad world without momma and daddy around," snorted a voice to the right of the man at the pool table. Turning her eyes that way, Maddie saw a man slightly older than the one she'd been staring at. She could see a resemblance-a brother, or cousin perhaps? The man he'd been addressing reluctantly turned his eyes away from her and picked the pool cue up again.

"I'm playin pool, Merle. I also thought I could light a cigarette too while I was waiting on you to stop talking shit to Marshall over there."

"Aw hell, Daryl, pick up the cue and break the table. I'm in too good a mood for you to put a damper on it with your whining."

Maddie's eyes returned to the man called Daryl. He was studying the table, holding the cue, contemplating his move. Another man approached the table, as tall as these two but younger-maybe his late twenties? Less of a roughneck than the two men she'd heard called Daryl and Merle. Actually, more handsome too. You could see he was a class above the first two, but not that far above. He looked at Daryl, then Merle and smiled.

"Hey, ya know you're too old to be looking at those little college girls. They're way out of your league Daryl," the younger man said. Then he turned toward Maddie and his eyebrows raised and he grinned. "But I can see why you're looking. Damn, she is a sight for sore eyes, isn't she?" He raised his beer bottle in Maddie's direction as if toasting her and took a drink. She felt herself blush. She was used to guys drooling over her, but this made her feel like she was some prize cow they were contemplating buying. It irritated her. She was always the one in charge, she didn't like anybody talking about her without asking for her input.

Without thinking about it, she stood up and found herself crossing the floor towards the three men. Her friends stopped talking and watched her in surprise. The man called Daryl looked up at her in surprise, his eyebrows raised. She held her hand out to the younger man to shake. "Hi, I'm Maddie," she practically purred. She had spent time with her friends back home practicing their "seductress" voices and she'd perfected hers. Her normal voice was, she felt, childish and squeaky. She felt like she sounded like a little girl. She had studied actresses she admired with husky sexy voices and tried her best to imitate them. She knew the deeper voice would surprise most men, as she was a very small woman, not quite 5' and even though she was curvy for her height she had often been mistaken for a much younger girl than she was. Lowering her voice had been one method of making sure she'd be taken seriously when speaking.

The man beamed at her and took her hand and shook it warmly. "I'm Marshall." He looked her over again now that she was close to him. She was a beautiful girl-small, curvy, long curly chestnut hair, large dark eyes thickly fringed with dark lashes, a plump, pouty mouth and when she smiled it lit her whole face up. But he had seen many a beautiful girl come and go in his years dealing with the college students, and she was no more beautiful than the majority of girls he'd slept with. It wasn't her looks that kept him holding her hand after they were finished introducing themselves. There was something about her-the way she held herself, the confidence in her voice, the way she gazed back at him steadily without fluttering her lashes or some other silly shit girls did to be coy or pretend to be shy. When their hands had touched, he swore he'd felt a slight tingle-as if she'd shocked him a bit like what happened in the winter when there was too much static electricity in the air. He could tell she hadn't felt it, her face never changed-but he sure had.

"Well," Marshall drawled, "would you like a beer Maddie?" He still had her hand clasped in his unconsciously. She gave a slight laugh and shook her head.

"No thank you, Marshall. I think my group wants to head back to the college now. I just wanted to introduce myself so that the next time I'm here I'll have a friend to talk to." She slid her hand away from his and nodded in Daryl and Merle's direction. "Nice meeting all of you. Hope to see you again soon." She turned around and headed back to the table, leant over and whispered, "shows over, let's go" and retrieved her purse and headed back to the door, never once doubting they would be right behind her. And she was right. After looking at each other quizzically, they all quickly gathered up their belongings and followed Maddie out the door to the parking lot. They were all soon back in their cars and headed back to the college, yawning and complaining about the terrible headaches they knew they would have when they woke up. Maddie just smiled to herself and kept quiet. She had a feeling that this fall was going to be more interesting than she had first thought. Now to think of a plan for going back a second time and getting to know Marshall-and thus Daryl-better.

Marshall just stood watching Maddie walk to the table, then out the door. He hadn't asked for her number. Hadn't found out what dorm she was staying in. He hadn't found out anything about her! He shook his head in surprised exasperation at himself. This was so unlike him. Bemused, he looked over at Daryl and Merle to see them staring at him with a similar look on their faces. Finally Merle coughed and said, "Well I'll be damned! A little girl like that has just left three grown men with their mouths hanging open like some dumb junior high boys" he shook his head and laughed. "Marshall, if that girl comes in here again and you're here-you will be lost boy. That's the girl that's going to break you of your running around. You look like you've been hit by a thunderbolt." He laughed again and walked over to the bar. "Betty, pour a shot for Marshall. I think he needs something to clear his head." Betty laughed and poured a shot and handed it to Merle. Merle carried it over to Marshall and pressed it into his hand. "Drink up boy. I ain't never seen any man get struck by love like this in my life. You better head home and think about how you're going to handle this, cuz I have a feeling you will definitely be seeing Miss Maddie again." Marshall took the shot, drank it down and placed the glass on the edge of the pool table like he was in a daze. He looked at Merle and gave a small laugh. "I'm fucked, right? Never thought I'd see my carefree days end so soon, but I think you're right –I think I'm done for. And I don't even mind." He clapped Daryl and Merle on their backs and headed toward the door. "Bye, Dixons. I'll be seeing you around." And with that he was out the door and headed for his truck.

Daryl and Merle looked at each other. Merle laughed unkindly and punched Daryl in the arm. "I know you was lookin at her too, little brother. But remember, we're trash. No girl like that in her right mind would give either of us the time of day." Daryl opened his mouth to say something, but Merle shook his head. "No Daryl, Marshall ain't like us. His parents may have been poor, but they were sober, went to work, didn't burn their house down smoking, didn't beat their kids bloody. He came from a real family.

He may be dealing, but he keeps it quiet and manages to still look decent to the folks in this town. Plus with the money he has he helps his family out. Folks overlook how you get your money as long as you don't flaunt it and you take care of your own. No matter what you and I ever do, it'll never make anyone forget how our Ma and Daddy carried on-they were trash, and we're trash. That's just the way it is. You should know that by now." He shook his head and picked up his cue. "C'mon now, let's play some pool. We can stop over at Angie's on the way home-she has a cousin staying with her that can maybe take your mind off that little college girl." Merle bent over the pool table and lined up his shot. Daryl sighed and waited for Merle, watching him. Merle was right, he knew it. But dammit, that girl had been looking right at him before Marshall ever walked up. She had been interested. He didn't care what Merle said, he knew that if Marshall hadn't walked up she would've been talking to him. He had no illusions that she would have gone home with him tonight, probably not any night-she was way out of his league. But he could've at least spoken to her. The thought of her shaking his hand, him being the one to hold that little soft hand in his made him restless and angry and fretful at his life and he wished for the millionth time that he could just move away, far away where no one had ever heard of his family and he could start over and feel like he was as good as anyone else instead of always feeling like he would forever be denied any small bit of happiness because of who his family was. The unfairness of it all washed over him again leaving him feeling humiliated and embarrassed like he had since his first day of school when he'd realized just how dirty and low his family was. He bit the inside of his cheek to clear his mind and watched Merle shoot the balls into the different pockets-was this his future? Always alone, in a bar with his troublesome brother and always feeling not good enough? He turned to the bar and gruffly ordered a bottle of Jack and a shot glass. He rarely got shitfaced, but tonight was a night he was going to drink himself into oblivion.


	3. Chapter 3

Two weeks later, Maddie again walked into the third and most trashy bar just outside town. She had finally convinced some of the same group to go barhopping again and had endured going to the first two bars just so she could eventually persuade them to again visit the third. She had drunk very little, although the group believed she was drunk as they were. She wanted her wits about her this time so she could be in control of the situation, if there was indeed a situation.

She had dressed carefully before going out that evening. Two weeks ago she had worn a pair of jeans and a shirt-nothing special, nothing she would care about if it got ripped or dirty from traipsing around dive bars. Tonight she was wearing the shortest skirt she owned, it barely covered her ass. She had laid out a few times to get a bit more tan on her skin and knew that although her legs were short they were also very shapely and looked especially good in that short skirt. She decided on a black tank top, but decided for tonight at least to wear a strapless bra underneath. Her breasts were a bit on the generous side for her height and weight and although she often went braless she felt uncomfortable going into those bars without one on tonight. For shoes she chose some strappy sandals without much heel-she'd made sure to get a pedicure and liked the red polish on her nails.

As the evening had progressed, the humidity had turned her naturally curly hair into a lioness' mane. She was feeling sticky and irritable by the time the group had reached the third bar. She had never experienced such humidity-the air seemed liquid, and it wasn't even threatening a storm. She had heard Georgia was humid and sticky, nearly unbearable in the summer months. This was worse than she'd imagined. If those men weren't in the bar, she was more than ready to head back to the dorm and take a long cold shower to wash the stickiness and smoke off her. She let the others walk in ahead of her into the bar, hanging back just a little as an unexpected surge of nervousness hit her. As she emerged into the dark, smoky, humid air of the bar she quickly scanned the room for the three men. At first she didn't see them, but then as her eyes adjusted to the dim interior she saw them in the far left corner near the back of the bar-near to where her group had sat two weeks previously. She tried to corral her group to a table near the front so she could observe the men from across the room, but the others just plowed forward and sat themselves at the table one over from the men. She puffed out a little sigh of irritation and followed them to the table-unfortunately the only seat left was one right by their table. She would be sitting with her back to the men, and unless she wanted to be obvious about watching them, she would have to settle in that chair and not ask anyone else to change seats. Already this was not going how she had planned.

As she sat, she felt the men looking at her. She kept her head turned away from them, willing one of them to make the first move to talk. There were only a few other patrons in the bar other than her group which made it easier to hear everything anyone was saying without shouting or straining. She smirked a little when she heard one of the men whisper to another, "isn't that the little college girl you was eyeing up a couple weeks back?" There was silence, and she wondered why no one had replied. Since her back was to them, she couldn't see what they were doing or how they had reacted to her appearance. Her foot started tapping in irritation and she crossed her arms over her chest. Just then a finger tapped her left shoulder and she turned toward the men. The guy who had introduced himself as Marshall two weeks before was leaning forward in his chair toward her smiling. "Hey there, Maddie isn't it? I'm Marshall, I believe we met a couple of weeks ago here." She nodded at him and smiled. "Well now, would you like to scoot your chair this way and sit with me over here?" Without waiting for her answer he started to turn her chair toward his table. "Want a beer? Or a drink? I don't think they make any of those fancy drinks you college girls seem to like, no wine either. Maybe a Jack and Coke?" Maddie could see that he was a bit nervous, she could also sense that his nervousness was the cause for one of his friend's amusement.

She smiled again and nodded her head. "A beer would be good, thanks Marshall." She nodded hello to the other two men. "Hi again Merle. Daryl" when she looked at Merle he winked at her and shook his head. He stood up. "I'll excuse myself now so that you two kids can be alone. Nice to see you again Miss Maddie." He put his hand on Daryl's shoulder and tugged on his shirt. "Cmon Daryl, let's give these two kids some privacy." Daryl shrugged Merle's hand off and stood up, looking irritated. "Hi again Maddie. See ya around." His eyes looked directly into hers-she was startled again at how intense a blue they were. She opened her mouth to tell him they didn't have to leave, but he had turned around and stalked off ahead of Merle toward the front door. Turning her head to follow his progress, she saw him slam the door open as he stomped out the door to the parking lot. Merle shrugged and followed his brother. As he got to the front door, she could see headlights flash on and hear the sound of flying gravel as someone left the parking lot in a hurry. Merle shook his head, turned and waved and strode out into the parking lot closing the door behind him.

Marshall came back to their table with two beers and shrugged. "They didn't have to leave, but I'm glad they did." He sat down and pulled his chair closer to hers. "Are you staying longer this time? I know this is probably a bullshit line you've heard a thousand times, but I would like to talk to you a while. Get to know you." He pushed her beer toward her. "Yes, I think we'll stay a little bit longer this time," she replied and took a sip of her beer. She glanced over at her table and saw her friends were settling in more comfortably than they had the last time. She turned back to Marshall and leaned a bit toward him. "So, what would you like to know?"


	4. Chapter 4

Before Christmas, Maddie had all but given up attending most of her classes. She had no qualms about wasting her parents' money. A semester at this little college was nothing compared to what they usually spent on trips and parties back home. She dreaded their reaction when the semester ended and they discovered she had flunked her classes, but she would cross that bridge when she got it. She had also all but moved into the little house Marshall lived in. She and Marshall had very quickly become inseparable. He had pursued her relentlessly –showed up at her dorm, sent her flowers, called her and texted her daily. He wasn't jealous or possessive-not obsessed in some sick, stalker kind of way. He seemed to genuinely enjoy her company and encouraged her to indulge in whatever flight of fancy she had that day. She took to spending Sundays with Marshall and his family at their house. Marshall's mother had taken it upon herself to teach Maddie the basics of cooking and some of Marshall's favorite dishes. His mother saw how the two were around each other and had no doubt Marshall was in this one for the long hall. In that case, she believed she'd best teach the girl a few things-it seemed she'd never lifted a hand to even make toast. Marshall's mother especially loved to bake and had started showing Maddie how to make cakes and pies from scratch. Marshall walked out a garden in his back yard that he promised he would help Maddie plant come the spring. They poured over seed catalogs and planned what they could sell at a local farmer's market and what recipes she could try.

Marshall had worked at the local factory while in high school, which gave him a loathing for working for anyone except himself. He took some classes in biology/botany at the local college, read a lot of books and studied some articles on the internet at the local library. After graduation, he moved into a house in the shittier part of town. The house on the outside looked about to fall down, peeling paint, patches in the roof, yard slightly overgrown. He cultivated that look to prevent anyone from thinking there was anything of value inside. Inside he had converted the back two bedrooms-knocked out the wall separating the rooms, and rigged it up as a greenhouse for his pot plants. In time he had managed to improve his set up, cultivated more plants, gotten his product out to a few select buyers and now had a good sum of money in a security box at the bank. Marshall showed Maddie how to care for the plants growing in the back rooms and how to dry and process and package the product. He trusted her and told her he viewed her as his equal partner in his business.

Maddie was surprised to find herself waking up each morning eager for the day to start, a feeling of happiness flooding her whenever she thought of how different her life was now compared to just a few months ago back home. She felt like finally someone cared about her, noticed her, valued her opinion and she felt useful and that she had a purpose. She realized with a start she had no idea what the fall fashions were and had no desire to go shopping in Atlanta or any other bigger city nearby.

Marshall had been the first one to mention the word love. It had been only a month after that second meeting at the bar. She hadn't gone home with him that night-she had made herself be unusually patient and bided her time. When she did finally go home with him after a month of his calls and flowers, he was gentle and sweet and tender in bed and as they lay there afterwards half drowsing he had kissed her on the forehead. "Maddie, I can't believe I'm saying this to you. I'm not the kind of guy who runs after any woman and I'm not the kind of guy who ever pictured living with a woman in a little house with a picket fence and kids. I don't believe in happily ever afters. But I love you. I know we barely know each other, but I do know I love you. I have honestly never felt this way with any woman ever. I don't know what is different about you, but I cannot imagine the rest of my life without you being a part of it." He fell silent, as if overwhelmed himself at what he had just said to her. Maddie rose up on her elbows and looked into his eyes. He gazed back with a small smile. He wasn't nervous or fidgety. He wasn't being demanding or begging. He shrugged as if to tell her he was just stating a fact and she could do with it what she would. He brushed a dark curl out of her eyes and let his hand rest on her shoulder. "I know how you feel Marshall. I feel like you are a part of me that has always been missing. You feel like home to me. I love you too." She leaned forward and kissed him on the lips, then sighed contentedly and lay her head on his chest. Marshall wrapped his arms around her and let out a little sigh he hadn't realized he'd been holding. They soon fell asleep holding each other.

Chapter Four

Maddie and Marshall had gotten a Christmas tree from the lot in town and were setting it up in the little living room when there was a knock at the door. Marshall crossed the room and opened the door to find Merle standing there. "Hey Merle. Where's Daryl?" He stood aside and let Merle in, looking out the door to see where Daryl was.

"He's in the truck, didn't want to come in." Merle stomped his feet to get some warmth in them. "Damn, this house is warmer than any house I've ever been in! I don't wanna think what your heat bill is like!" he exclaimed. He glanced around and noticed the tree. "Oh hey, I didn't realize Christmas was coming up so soon. Don't really celebrate it-never was a big deal growing up and haven't ever had much reason to change that." He pointed at the tree. "Looks like I interrupted you two lovebirds in fixing up your first tree." He winked at Maddie. Marshall shook his head and laughed. "No big deal Merle. What can I do for you?" He sat down next to Maddie on the couch and put his arm protectively around her. Merle noticed and snorted. "Don't worry, Marshall, I won't try to steal your girl. I just wanted to buy some pot from ya. Then you two lovebirds can go back to playing house and decorate your tree."

"Sure Merle. How much you want? We just processed some the other day-it's much better quality than we've ever had. I've been playing around with different plants and trying hybrid strains. Won't take much to give you a buzz."

Merle raised his eyebrows and whistled. "More bang for my buck hunh?"

Marshall laughed. "You might say that. C'mon back in the back room and let's see what we can fix you up with." He turned to Maddie. "Baby, why don't you ask Daryl to come on in? This might take a minute, and it's too cold out there even with the heater running" he turned and headed toward the back room with Merle right behind him. Maddie turned to the front door and hesitated. She had not seen Daryl often since the second night at that bar. Once in a while if she and Marshall were out at the bar she would see him playing pool and he was always polite but cool toward her. She had racked her brain trying to think of any way she had insulted him, but could come up with nothing. She had noticed that although he rarely spoke to her, and barely acknowledged her if she spoke to him his eyes always followed her wherever they were. His expression was unreadable but those blue eyes seemed to have some type of reproach or regret in them when she caught him watching her.

She shrugged these thoughts off and pulled a throw around her and headed out the door. Daryl's truck idled in the driveway. She opened the passenger side door and he started. "Goddammit Merle, what took you so long?" he snapped. He'd been gazing morosely out the driver side window, idly chewing the tip of his thumb. As he turned to her, and realized she was not Merle, he rubbed his hand over his mouth in irritation.

"Hey Daryl," Maddie started, "it's going to be a minute while they figure out their business. C'mon inside and stay warm. It's almost hot in there with all the insulation Marshall added, you'll freeze out here in this truck." She realized she was babbling. "I've been baking pies. You're welcome to have some while you wait." Why in the world couldn't she just shut up? she asked herself.

He looked full on into her face. She gazed into his eyes, biting her lip nervously. He shrugged and shook his head. "Naw thanks. I'm fine out here." She frowned. What was wrong with him? Who would rather stay in a shitty cold truck than come into a warm house and eat pie? She suddenly realized she had spoken the words aloud. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Nothings wrong with me. Maybe I don't like pie," he mumbled. Now she snorted. "Nobody anywhere doesn't like pie. You can't tell me you don't –don't even try. Now quit being dumb and come inside where it's warm." She laughed to soften the sting of her words. He suddenly gave a short laugh and shrugged again.

"Okay. I'll come in and try some of your damn pie, bossy." He smiled and shook his head.

She seated him at the little table in the tiny kitchen and poured him a glass of milk without asking him and then cut a large slice of her newest pie and placed it onto a plate and presented it to him with a little flourish.

"What kind is it?" he asked as he played with the fork she'd given him.

"Something new I tried-I just thought it up myself," she answered proudly.

"Well, what did you think up?" he asked as he poked the fork at the slice. She laughed.

"Daryl, it's not poison. It's not going to bite you. Take a bite and tell me what you think and then I'll tell you what I put in it."

He glanced at her quizzically. "You do this to Marshall? Make him guess what you put in your pies?" She giggled.

"Yes, and if he guesses correctly he gets a prize!" She turned red at what she'd said and clapped her hands over her mouth in consternation and embarrassment.

Daryl laughed out loud and choked on his drink of milk at that. "Well, okay then. I guess I can be as brave as Marshall." He placed a large bite on his fork and shoveled it into his mouth, expecting something dreadful. Instead, he tasted caramel, chocolate, strawberry and some other fruit all melting and mixing in his mouth –the most delicious piece of pie he'd ever had. He looked up at her with a surprised look on his face. "My God, girl, that is the best damn pie I've ever tasted. Where did you learn to bake like that?" He quickly shoveled another bite into his mouth.

"Truly, Daryl? Is it okay?" She frowned a little, thinking he was teasing her. He nodded his head.

"I'm not teasing you, Maddie. This is amazing. Really. What did you put in it?" He continued to wolf the pie in. Maddie opened her mouth to explain how and why she had decided on the ingredients when Merle stomped into the kitchen.

"Well, well, Marshall, looks like baby brother has your girl feeding him pie now. Probably the pie she baked special for your supper." Daryl turned beet red and slammed the fork down as he glared at Merle. Marshall laughed.

"Oh hey, Merle, Daryl is welcome to eat as much as he wants. Since Maddie discovered she likes to cook I get all kinds of interesting dinners, lunches and breakfasts. I am only too happy to share the wealth-if I tried to eat it all I wouldn't be able to walk!" He started putting saran wrap on the pie Maddie had given a slice to Daryl from. "Here, take the pie home with you. She'll be making another tonight or tomorrow. We have plenty of pie to spare. And come Christmas stop over-she's planning on an epic baking session for the holiday-cookies, breads, you name it. We'll be glad to give you some." He handed Merle the pie and pulled Maddie to him and wrapped his arms around her. Kissing the top of her head he told them, "she is absolutely the best thing to ever happen to me. I wish everyone could be as happy as I am." Merle smirked over at Daryl.

Daryl lowered his eyes and stood up from the table. "Thanks for the pie Maddie. See y'all around." He walked out of the kitchen and out the front door without waiting for Merle. Merle snickered. "I think someone's got a crush on your girl, Marshall." Merle snickered again and headed out the door, closing it tight after him. They heard the old truck's engine rev and then the truck backed out of the driveway and headed out.

Marshall looked down at Maddie in his arms, his chest against her back. He gave her another squeeze and turned her to face him. "Don't pay him any attention. Merle's an asshole and has always seemed to need to poke at Daryl and try to embarrass him. My brothers used to run with Daryl and Merle and they said that's how it's always been-Merle is just relentless with Daryl. I feel kind of sorry for him-he's a nice guy, quiet, doesn't start fights or trouble. He just drifts aimlessly with Merle and Merle treats him like shit. He deserves better. But then, in this town if your family is trash like his is, you aren't going to get a chance at a better life unless you leave here and start over."


	5. Chapter 5

Spring came early and they started plotting out their garden. They had ordered seeds from the catalogs and each day brought a new batch in the mail. Maddie walked the rows eagerly, waiting impatiently for the first sprouts of green to begin to show. Marshall laughed at her. "I can see for a fact now that you were a city girl. You have no idea how long it can take before you see any results." She just told him to hush and let her enjoy her first garden.

One morning in May, she woke early to find Marshall sitting in front of the tv watching the news with a worried look on his face. "Marshall, what's wrong? Why do you look like that?"

He jumped a little and turned his face up to her. "There's a virus. It's spreading pretty quickly. There's already a lot of people dead."

She sat down beside him frowning. "What are you talking about? There hasn't been anything about any virus on the news.." her voice trailed off as she realized she hadn't watched any news for over a week because she'd been busy playing in her garden and baking. She looked at him. "Marshall, talk to me. What's going on?" He took her hands in his and rubbed them absently, as if trying to warm himself. "Marshall, you're scaring me."

He looked at her. "Maddie, we're going to start packing up some shit. I have a bad feeling about this. It seems there's some worldwide virus-they call it a pandemic. People are dropping like flies everywhere. They aren't saying what caused this-but some folks are claiming it's biological warfare. But no one knows who started it or who the original target was. Folks are trying to get out of the bigger cities and highways are getting jammed up for miles. It's just a damn mess."

Maddie sat there, dumbfounded. "You mean it's like that Stephen King book, The Stand? It's the end of the world? That stuff is made up, that isn't real."

Marshall gripped her hands a bit tighter. "Yes Maddie, that's exactly what this is. The end of the world, at least as we know it." He stood up and pulled her up alongside him. "We've got to be smart about this. Start packing, but only what you can carry comfortably. In a backpack. I'll also pack a duffle bag-first aid kit, toilet paper, shampoo, stuff like that. We're going to pack some extra blankets in the car, and fill up some gas cans in case the gas stations are closed."

Maddie stared at him, her mouth open. She shook her head. "No, Marshall. This isn't….this can't be happening. Stuff like this is in the movies or books, it's not real."

Marshall shook her by the shoulders gently. "Baby, this is really happening. It's real. And I'd rather be safe than sorry. We're getting the hell outta here before and if all hell breaks loose. We'll lock up the house just in case. Take anything of any value with you, because if what I'm thinking is true, we won't ever be back here." He gave her a little push in the direction of the bedroom. "Go on and pack Maddie. I'm going to see about getting the car filled up and getting some extra gas. Be thorough, make sure you get everything you need or want." He turned and walked out the door and out to the car before she could make another protest. She sank back down on the couch and stared at the tv, not realizing she was crying.

When Marshall returned to the house a couple of hours later Maddie was in a state of panic. She ran to him and sobbed hysterically as she clutched him to her.

He patted her back absentmindedly. "Mad, did you pack like I asked you to?" She looked up at him-his voice was so strange. She had never heard him sound so…..hollow. She nodded her head and sniffed. "Yes Marshall." She sounded like a child who'd been scolded by her parent. She had never felt so scared in her life as she felt now. She was afraid to let him out of her sight, and trailed after him as he quickly packed a backpack of clothes and a duffle bag of essentials.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her to the front door. "Wait here, I'm going to walk through the house once more real quick." She whimpered as he left her and stood there shaking until he came back just minutes later. He held a couple of large bags of buds. "Might as well take this with us, we may need it." He shoved the bags into his duffel then grabbed the duffel and his backpack. He motioned her to pick her back pack up and they headed out the front door. "We're taking the Range Rover baby. It's all terrain and I have a feeling we're not going to be staying on the roads too long." She opened the passenger door and climbed in. He took the pack from her and placed all the bags in the back. She could smell the fumes from the gas cans-they'd have to keep their windows cracked so they wouldn't get sick. She shook her head. Stupid to worry about gas fumes when the world was falling apart.

Marshall climbed into the driver's seat. He opened the glove compartment and removed a gun. She stared at him. "When we get to a safe place, you're getting target lessons. I got some extra ammo and a couple of shotguns in the back there as well. We don't know what we're going to run into, I'm not taking any chances. You're going to know how to defend yourself just in case…." He faltered. "Just in case we get separated or anything." She started crying again and even though it was spring and the day was warm and sticky she started shivering, her teeth chattering. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "I love you Maddie." He bit his lip and then backed out of the driveway and they headed out of town.

They drove in silence. They had stopped at Marshall's parents' house and he had tried to convince them to come with him and Maddie but they had stubbornly insisted on staying in their house –they didn't want looters to get what little they had. Marshall tried to tell them looters would be the least of their worries, but they wouldn't budge. Frustrated, Marshall had hugged his father and kissed his mother and got back in the Rover. He closed his eyes briefly then sighed and backed out of the driveway. Maddie bit her lip, not knowing what to say.

They passed the few stores in town-folks were running in and out carrying anything they could get their hands on. You would have thought there was a rare ice storm or snow storm coming this way. The three gas stations this side of town had lines at the pumps and there were a couple of fights breaking out near the pumps. There was a definite air of hysteria and panic enveloping the town. Maddie closed her eyes tightly, trying her best to stop her shivering. She knew her panic wasn't helping Marshall and if they were going to get through this they both had to be strong. When she felt the car stop suddenly, she opened her eyes. There beside them on Marshall's side was Daryl's truck, with him and Merle inside. Marshall rolled his window down, and Daryl did likewise.

"Guess you saw the news huh?" Merle shouted over Daryl's shoulder. Daryl stared across at Maddie. It seemed as if he were trying to memorize her face. She stared numbly back at Daryl. She wondered what would have happened if she had spoken to him instead of Marshall that night. Would she and Daryl have ended up together? Would he have been happy with her? She realized that she might not ever see Daryl Dixon again, and that thought hurt her in a way she couldn't explain. Her life from now on might be year after year of running, and wondering what had happened to different folks she had once known. She suddenly hopped out of the rover and ran around to Daryl's door. Merle had gotten out of the truck and was standing talking to Marshall. The roads were deserted at this point, the mass exodus had yet to begin.

Daryl looked at her. "Girl get back in the truck. We all need to get the hell outta here quick and Marshall will keep you safe. Don't be doing anything foolish and get yourself separated from him." He was biting his thumb and kept glancing anxiously over at Merle and Marshall.

She grabbed his shirt and pulled him down to her. "Daryl Dixon, you promise you'll keep yourself safe. I expect to see you again in one piece when all this shit settles down." She started to cry and grabbed his face in her hands and kissed him. He put his hands in her hair and kissed her back with all the passion he hadn't been able to show her before. He put all his love and wanting and hope in that kiss.

They let go and gazed at each other-realizing too late how they felt about each other. Daryl felt his heart break-now that he finally knew how she felt, it was too late. Too late for both of them. It was the end of the world and they would probably never lay eyes on each other again. But at least he had the knowledge that she felt about him as he did about her, and he knew when he died he would be remembering the feel of her lips on his with his last breath.

Marshall coughed. Maddie turned and went back around the rover and climbed into the seat and shut the door. She clipped her seatbelt on, never looking over at Marshall nor over to Daryl in his truck. Merle banged his hand on Marshall's door. "Y'all take care of yourselves. We're heading into the woods up north. Some hunting cabins up there that we're familiar with. Hunker down and wait to see what happens."

Marshall nodded. "You take care of yourselves too, Merle. Daryl. Hope we see ya on the other side." He put the truck into gear and started off. Maddie realized he hadn't told them where they were headed. She looked over at him, not realizing she was crying again. Marshall gave her a long, steady look, then smiled a tired smile. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

"Where are we going Marshall?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Don't know. I think we need to get up North somewhere, near the Canadian border. Not a lot of folks up that way. We can find some old cabin up there and wait out the worst of it. Then when the dust settles we can see about heading to D.C. or some other city. Maybe by then order will be restored and we can start rebuilding our lives." He looked over at her. "Sound like a plan, baby?" She nodded wordlessly and squeezed his hand back. "Get some rest Maddie. I'll drive as far as I safely can and then we'll stop and rest somewhere for the night." She hesitantly leaned the seat back and pulled a throw up over her. Still cold. She wondered if she'd ever feel warm again. She slowly drifted off to sleep, lulled by the movement of the car.


	6. Chapter 6

Daryl Dixon sat on the rail of the front porch of the house in Alexandria. He didn't feel comfortable here, didn't trust the people here. They hadn't been outside in the world of walkers the last two years. They were soft and this made him doubt that the town was as safe as Aaron and that bitch had repeatedly told them it was. He felt sure it wouldn't be very long before a horde of walkers overran the place and then he and his group would be lucky to get out alive from another disaster.

He bit his lip and closed his eyes and sighed. He had lost too many people, he didn't want to lose any more. He would never be able to let go of the guilt he felt over the loss of Beth. He had promised her he would take care of her and in the end she had died and he hadn't been able to save her. He would have been upset enough about losing her before back in the prison-but the fact that they had been alone together after the prison fell and he had not kept her safe weighed heavily on his soul. She had been his personal responsibility and he had failed miserably. All his old feelings of self loathing, which were ever present, almost suffocated him now. Not good enough. White trash. Just Merle Dixon's dumbfuck loser brother drifting along through life with no plan. He sighed. Everyone kept hounding him to clean up-they had all rushed to take showers and brush their teeth and put fresh clothes on. As if that erased the last two years and now everything was fine and dandy and the world could go back to the way it was before the virus. Before the walkers and lurkers. Before he lost his brother and Beth. He wasn't about to clean up-he just knew that sooner or later, and probably sooner, that smartass bitch would convince Rick and the rest of them that he was trouble and he would be booted out of the town and once more be on his own. Better to stay filthy so as to hide the shame he would feel when he got thrown out-at least the walkers wouldn't jump on him if he was still as filthy as they were.

He sat there frowning, holding the crossbow, lost in thought when out of the corner of his eye he saw someone crossing the grass toward the porch. He stiffened up, out of long experience and habit readying himself for some insult or threat. He turned to look directly at the person walking and saw a young girl with long dark curly hair wearing a black tank top and short jean skirt with skinny, bruised up legs. She had what looked like hiking boots on her feet. He snorted –he didn't think anyone in this place would dress like this-she looked like some little college girl trying to fit in at the dive bars around town back in the day-their "slumming" outfit. From the little he had already seen, most folks here dressed in clothes that looked like they had come from the fancy shops the folks with money had shopped in-cardigans, fancy men's dress pants, expensive looking shoes, those stupid matched pants and top sets some of the women at the country club or the wives of the college professors had worn. Christ, Carol had already started wearing that shit. She had stopped walking and just stood there with her mouth hanging open. "What the fuck r ya lookin at?" he growled. Jesus Christ, you'd think no one here had gone a day or five without bathing the last two years. He knew he looked a mess, but he didn't look that damn bad.

The girl dropped the basket she was carrying and ran toward the porch. She skipped up the steps and threw herself at him. "Oh my god, Daryl Dixon! You're alive! You're here!"

He roughly pushed her off him and held her at arms length. "What the fuck are you doing girl?" He had hardly gotten the question out of his mouth when he suddenly realized who she was. "Maddie?" he whispered. This couldn't be real. He'd been dreaming so much about Beth and Merle lately that he sometimes couldn't differentiate between his dreams and reality. He had come to the conclusion that he was in fact slowly losing his mind and found he was not all that concerned about it. Being with Beth again in his dreams was a hundred times better than the reality of his life-if being crazy meant the dreams would become his reality he was all for it.

Maddie was crying in loud heaving sobs. "Oh Daryl. Oh. Oh. Oh." He felt her knees give way and tightened his grip on her arms.

"Hang on now girl. Don't go fallin out on me." He stood up and moved her to a chair. "Have a seat. Do you want some water?" She shook her head and continued to stare at him while crying. She was starting to hyperventilate. "Slow down your breathing Maddie. Put your head down between your knees if you're feeling light headed." He pushed her head down to her knees and held her neck gently. He knelt down in front of her and grabbed her hands. "It's okay. It's really me. And I guess you're really you. Just breathe for a bit and calm down." She nodded her head and squeezed his hand. Finally she sat back up slowly. Her eyes were puffy, and her nose was red. Her tears had slowed, as had her breathing. She blinked slowly, almost shutting her eyes completely as if to test if he was really there in front of her. Despite her disheveled appearance, Daryl thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever in his life seen. And unbidden he remembered the last time he'd seen her, when she had kissed him in the road the day the world had gone totally to shit. "Are you alright now?" He asked. She nodded. "How long you been here in Alexandria? I guess you know my group just got here two days ago."

She nodded again and cleared her throat. "Marshall and I got here six months ago."

He felt like someone had slapped him. Marshall. "How is Marshall?" He asked quickly.

Her tears started up again. "Marshall's dead." She hiccupped a sob and attempted to wipe her tears. Daryl shook his head, not following her. "Dead? How? When? Did you come here by yourself?"

Maddie shook her head. "No. We stayed by ourselves that whole first year and a bit more. We went up to upstate New York and stayed in old abandoned cabins and such. There weren't a lot of walkers up there because it was so remote. Marshall had thought of that and he was right. We were safe up there. Didn't meet any other folks like us, folks who had gotten out of any cities. We had plenty to eat-Marshall hunted and we could cure the deer meat and we scrounged up canned vegetables and stuff like that. But last fall Marshall got restless and wanted to find a group of survivors and wanted to see how we could rebuild our lives. So we started back down toward DC." She sighed and another sob hitched in her chest. "Everyplace we went was just a disaster. A clusterfuck, Marshall said. At each place he would get so frustrated and lose his temper. He was nothing like his old laid back self. He seemed so tense and on edge. I told him we could go back up north, but he just kept insisting we needed to get somewhere with other people where it was safe." She fell silent. Daryl squeezed her hand. "Any way, just before Christmas we stumbled on this place. Or rather, they stumbled on us." She grimaced and shook her head. Daryl nodded, knowing just how she felt. "Aaron found us, and brought us in here. I didn't like it right away, didn't feel comfortable, but Marshall kept insisting that it was just because I hadn't been around anyone other than him for over a year. He kept telling me that this would be a good thing for us, that I needed to be with some other people, other than him. I couldn't believe he was telling me this-I mean before the shit hit the fan he had been content with it being just the two of us. Now he wanted me to go out and make friends and get involved." She shook her head again and fell silent. She was breathing more calmly now, although her hands clenched his tight enough to almost hurt. He knew she needed to get this out of her, so he nodded at her to continue. "Well, there I am going to the fucking bakery" he remembered she rarely swore unless she was very upset, so he knew what was coming next was bad, "and trying to pretend to fit in with all these fucking Stepfuckingford wives and husbands. The exact kind of people my folks were involved with. The exact kind of people I went to Georgia to get away from. What a great cosmic joke this is, I would think. The world goes to shit and here I am stuck in the kind of world I had tried to escape from. Every day I try to fit in and make like I think this place is the shit so Marshall will calm down and quit worrying me about it. Then one day three months ago I came home early and found him lying on the floor in the living room with blood all over his face."

Daryl squeezed her hand again. "Did someone attack him?" he asked.

She shook her head no. "No, I got him rolled over and saw the blood was coming from his mouth. I got him sat up and kind of dragged him to the sofa so he could lean against it. I got him some water and tried to clean his face off a bit. Then I asked him what the hell was going on." She paused and her eyes started to overflow with tears again. "Marshall told me he was sure he had cancer. The reason he had insisted on leaving our cabin up north was he had started coughing up blood. At first he thought he just had a sinus infection. But as time went on, it happened more often. And there would be more blood. He started feeling tired all the time. And he said he knew that if he waited too long he wouldn't be able to get me somewhere safe and I'd be trapped up there all by myself. He said he'd promised to take care of me, and he'd be damned if he would not keep that promise." She fell silent and wiped at her tears.

Daryl stood up and paced. Marshall. Merle. Beth. Herschel. Tyreese. The list of the dead never seemed to end. She was all alone in the world, just like he was. Sure he had Rick and Carol and the rest of the group-but essentially he was still alone. He didn't fit in with them really, never had and never would. He stopped and knelt in front of Maddie again. "When did Marshall pass?" he whispered.

"Last month," she whispered back. Last month, he thought. Last month they had lost Beth and then Tyreese. And she had lost Marshall. It had been a bad month for everyone apparently. He sighed. "C'mon girl. You dropped a basket out there on the lawn. What was in it?" He pulled her up from the chair. She blinked, then started to laugh almost hysterically. "Pie," she squeaked out before she collapsed against him, this time laughing.


	7. Chapter 7

When Rick and Carol walked up to the house a few hours later, they were pleasantly surprised to hear the very rare sound of Daryl's laughter. They looked at each other and grinned. They had all been worried about Daryl since Beth's death. He had taken it especially hard. They all knew he had felt especially protective of Beth and that his self perceived failure to keep her safe had worn him raw. They knew he was sleeping even less than usual, eating very little, and had taken to mumbling to himself before catching himself and then turning red with embarrassment. He refused to bathe or even change into fresh clothes, as if remaining filthy was akin to wearing a hairshirt to atone for his sins. As they climbed the porch stairs, they realized they were hearing another voice in addition to Daryl's. A softer, female voice. And both voices were coming from inside. They glanced at each other in surprise again and raised their eyebrows at each other. Curiosity got the better of them and they stepped inside and walked toward the voices.

Entering the large kitchen, they stopped dead in their tracks at the sight before them. There sat Daryl Dixon-although he obviously still hadn't taken a shower it was also obvious he had made some attempt at cleaning up his face and hands. Beside him at the table in the breakfast nook sat a beautiful young girl of about twenty or so. She was gazing at Daryl with a look of absolute adoration, and his look toward her was no less adoring. Neither of them noticed either Rick or Carol, so absorbed in their conversation they were oblivious to anything other than each other.

Carol cleared her throat softly and whispered, "Well my day has been full of surprises but none of them have made me as happy as this one." Daryl and the girl started and dragged their eyes from each other to gaze at Rick and Carol. The girl blushed prettily, and Carol could have sworn she saw a slight pink on Daryl's cheeks as well. He shrugged his shoulders as was his habit when he felt embarrassed, but Carol noticed his grip on the girl's hand remained tight. He cleared his throat and nodded slightly toward Rick and Carol.

"Y'all this is Maddie. I know her from before…..before the world went to shit. She was a friend of ours, lived in our town while she went to college." Maddie's eyes flicked over to him. She was aware he had not mentioned Marshall. She squeezed his hand and smiled at him. She was not going to mention Marshall unless Daryl did. There was no point in it. In the world now, the past was more dead than anything else and there was no use in getting stuck in it. Marshall was dead. Nothing was going to change that. But now she had a second chance with Daryl Dixon. And from what she had observed this afternoon, he had had his heart crushed as thoroughly as hers had been. Maybe this was Karma's way of giving them a second chance at whatever passed for happiness in this world.

"Well that is just amazing. How wonderful that you've found each other again after all that has happened," Carol said. She couldn't get over how much younger he looked, and it wasn't just that his face was clean of filth and his hair was somewhat pushed out of his eyes. It was obvious that this young girl had meant a lot to him and that seeing her here had lessened his unhappiness somewhat.

Rick laughed and stepped forward. "What is it y'all are eating there? It looks delicious," he leaned down to look into the basket Maddie and Daryl had retrieved from the lawn.

Daryl laughed and pushed the basket toward Rick. "It's pie. The best pie you'll ever eat. Maddie here is a prize baker and pie maker from back in the day." He suddenly looked abashed at what for him was babbling. He turned to Maddie and beamed at her. She turned an even prettier shade of pink and shrugged.

"Mind if I have some?" Rick asked her. Daryl stood up and pulled Maddie up with him.

"Go ahead and help yourself Rick. Maddie and I are going to go over to her house and pick up some of her stuff and bring it back here." He stopped and looked uncertainly at both Rick and Carol. "That is, if it's okay with y'all. Maddie doesn't really know anybody over there, and I figured she'd be more comfortable here with someone she does know." He shrugged as if this was all being done for her benefit. Rick and Carol looked at each other, then back at Daryl. They noted he still had Maddie's little hand grasped tightly in his. They both nodded yes, and mumbled of course and not a problem. Daryl and Maddie left quickly and headed out the front door. Carol blew out a breath and sat down heavily in a chair. Rick raised an eyebrow at her.

"I would never have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself," she exclaimed. Rick nodded in agreement. "She must have meant an awful lot to him for seeing her again to have brought this much change to him so quickly," said Rick.

"Thank goodness for karma or fate bringing them together again," replied Carol. "I was so worried about him, this is just what he needed. Maybe now we'll get a new and improved old Daryl back" Carol laughed. "By the way, Rick, how is the pie?"

Rick hmmmmed and grinned. "Well, I don't know that it's the best pie in the world I've ever eaten, but it's pretty damn close. If nothing else, maybe Maddie can sweeten his temper with her cooking." He stuffed another forkful of the pie into his mouth and Carol dipped a finger in some of the filling of the pie still in the tin on the table.

"Maybe Rick. I certainly hope so," she replied as she licked some of the filling off her finger and smiled.

Chapter 9

Daryl and Maddie walked the few blocks to the house she was sharing with a group of women around her age in silence. Their hands were clasped and they swung them back and forth the way small children do. Both of them kept sneaking glances at the other as if to reassure themselves this was real, not another dream to wake up unhappy from. Their pace was slow and unhurried. At the end of the third block Maddie pulled Daryl slightly to the right and they turned down Ash Street. "I'm staying in the third house on the right," Maddie murmured. Daryl nodded. The house was slightly smaller than the one his group was in, but definitely much nicer than any place he had lived in previously-especially the last two years.

At the front steps they stopped. "D'ya want me to go in with you?" Daryl whispered.

Maddie shook her head. "No, I don't have much. It won't take me very long." He nodded but didn't release his hold on her hand. He felt uneasy letting her out of his sight so soon. Which was ridiculous, she was just going in the house to get her clothes and would be right back. Still, after everything that had happened the last two years he knew it would be a long time before he would be able to let her out of his sight without feeling tense.

He squeezed her hand and mumbled, "I'll go with ya anyway. Might need help carrying some of your stuff out." Maddie squeezed his hand back in relief. She knew he had never liked meeting new people and that he would rather wait outside, but she didn't feel comfortable letting him out of her sight so soon after finding him again. She sighed and unconsciously squared her shoulders before starting up the steps still holding hand.

There were three young women sitting on a couch in the living area and they looked up when Maddie walked in the door with Daryl trailing after her. He could see right away why she didn't feel comfortable here. These girls reminded him of the girls she had been with the few times he had seen her at the bar before she started seeing Marshall. They looked well fed, content-they didn't look to have suffered any the last two years in the least. Their clothes looked the type they would have gotten in some fancy store back before the virus. They were wearing makeup and had their hair fixed up. It was as if they had been frozen in time from two years ago.

"Hey Maddie," a blonde trilled over to them. Daryl could feel their eyes on him, and knew they were trying to figure out who he was and why he was holding Maddie's hand. He knew he was definitely not the type of person they would have ever had in their house previously. His old feelings of awkwardness rose up in him causing his face to burn. Unconsciously his hand started to pull away from Maddie's –but she gripped it even tighter and came to a dead stop, turning to face the three girls. Daryl suddenly realized that the way the girls looked at Maddie was not in the least friendly. They were looking at her like folks had always looked at him and Merle. Like she was filthy trash. He looked Maddie up and down slowly, taking in her hiking boots, skinny little skinned up legs leading up to her very short jean skirt. She wore a black tank top that left a bit of her midriff bare. And he also realized she wasn't wearing any bra. He noticed her hair was rather wild and tousled. He had always loved her long dark curls, and although he remembered her complaining whenever the weather had made her hair what she called "wild", he had thought she had looked even more beautiful. Her face was thinner than he'd remembered, making her cheekbones more prominent and her pretty eyes appear enormous in her little face. As she opened her mouth to speak, he noticed her pink plummy lips were chapped from her old habit of biting them when nervous or in deep thought. Daryl realized he had been so grateful to see her again that he hadn't really taken in how altered her appearance was. She looked like everyone else he had seen these last two years-starved and bruised from the daily struggle to survive. Despite having been inside these walls the last six months, the previous months on the outside with Marshall had left a visible mark on her appearance. Having known Maddie from before, he knew she had been raised every bit as privileged and proper as these three young women may have been. But he realized they had never bothered to find that out or even considered that possibility. They thought she was trash because of how she dressed-they had no idea how well dressed and clean she was compared to how his group had been when they stepped through the town's gates-clothes basically rags, all of them filthy from weeks on the road with no chance for showers or baths, nothing much beyond a quick swipe at the walker guts and blood covering them after each encounter with the damn things. Truth was, the same had been true of any folks they had met up with in the last two years with the exception of the Greenes at their farm. There wasn't anyone he could think of in the last two years that had appeared as clean and unruffled as these folks here in Alexandria –it really was as if the last two years had never happened-almost like this place and the people in it had been frozen in time. He was glad now he had come in with her after all.

Maddie puffed out a breath of air in disgust. "What the fuck r ya looking at," she snapped at the blonde. Daryl looked at Maddie sharply and his mouth stretched wide in an amused grin. She had thrown his first words to her from earlier today right at that snippy bitch. The blonde's mouth dropped open. A brunette sitting next to her shook her head.

"I told you not to ask her to move in here with us. No breeding or manners," she sniffed.

A second blonde nodded in agreement. "Bad enough we have to put up with your bad manners and slutty looks, but now you're dragging in something you've found in the gutter. Don't think he's going to move in here with you, or even stay the night." The first blonde tsked and said, "And your boyfriend (and she stressed this word in an ugly way) barely dead a month. You certainly didn't wait long to move on, did you?" The three girls looked at each other in smug satisfaction.

Daryl glanced anxiously over at Maddie, expecting her to start shouting a string of filthy language at these snotty bitches. He wouldn't have blamed her, and sure wouldn't have stopped her. But to his surprise she laughed a short bitter laugh and shook her head.

"Don't worry, I'm getting my shit and moving out. Your hospitality (and she stressed the word in a sarcastic tone) has been much appreciated. Just remember you sorry, weak bitches, when the shit hits the fan again and this place gets overrun by walkers or some group of murderers it'll be folks like me who will survive and get away. You look down your noses at me and think I look like shit-this is how someone looks who's been on the outside and learned to survive in this clusterfuck we call life now. Y'all can go to hell with your opinions and go fuck yourselves. And by the way, back before all this shit started y'all would've been what my folks called new money and posers and trash. I come from better than any of you, and my appearance to the contrary I'm still further up the ladder than any of you will ever be." With that Maddie flipped them all off and turned and stomped up the stairs with Daryl scrambling to follow her. He could hear the three girls in the living room start chattering like a bunch of excited hens, and laughed quietly to himself shaking his head. He had forgotten what a little firecracker Maddie was-it was the reason Marshall had fallen so hard for her. For all that she had grown up privileged and spoiled, she was a tough and realistic little cookie and could handle herself very well in most situations. Daryl had no doubt her presence had been a major help instead of hindrance to Marshall while they had been on the outside. He would have to keep that in mind and not treat her as anything other than his equal.

Maddie flung open a door and pulled him into a small, neat bedroom. Whoever had decorated the room had apparently been planning this room for a young girl. The walls were a pastel color, the furniture that white and pink shit he had seen in catalogs, and the bed was a frilly, girly canopy like he'd only ever heard about. No girl he had ever known had ever had a bed that fancy. He whistled softly. Maddie turned quickly to him and raised her eyebrows at him.

"Boy you are just full of surprises ain't ya girl" he laughed. "A girl with that kinda shocking language, and you're sleeping in this fancy bed like in some fairy tale. I never read about no princess talking like you just did." He laughed again at the thought of the way she had just raked those three girls over the coals.

"Aw hell, Daryl. You and Marshall were the only two people I ever met that thought of me as some little angelic princess. No matter what I ever did or said, I just couldn't get that image out of your heads." She shook her head in exasperation.

Daryl crossed the room to her and pulled her close to him. He kissed her forehead and shrugged. "I thought girls liked being put on a pedestal, liked folks to think they were perfect and special." She looked into his eyes and he could see that she was suddenly serious.

She shook her head. "No Daryl. It's lonely and scary on a pedestal. You start to worry that you'll do something stupid and folks will be disappointed in you and walk away from you because you aren't perfect." She sighed and hugged him tightly. "I'm just me, with faults like everyone else. I want whoever loves me to love me because of all my faults, not despite them." Daryl nodded and hugged her just as tightly. He cleared his throat, unsure of what would be the right thing to say. He had never been good with words.

He let go of her and pulled a lock of her hair. "Reckon we better get this over with girl. They'll have gathered a mob with pitchforks downstairs if we don't hurry it up." She nodded and looked around the room swiftly. She and Marshall had not had much with them by the time they had gotten here. She grabbed a duffel out of the closet and quickly went through the dresser drawers throwing items into the duffel. She hesitated when she came across an old flannel Marshall had worn, then threw it into the duffel. They hadn't had any pictures or books or anything of personal value to them-just some clothes and toiletries they'd scavenged along the way. She was finished within a few minutes and turning around for a last look she sighed. "Guess this is it." She started toward the door. Daryl looked around the room again quickly, afraid she might have missed something. Not seeing anything she might want he followed her to the door and they both went out, closing the door behind them. They hesitated at the top of the stairs, straining to hear the girls voices. Silence. The girls had either left the house or were in another room avoiding them. They jogged down the stairs and out the front door without looking back. They trotted out to the street and didn't slow down until they'd turned the corner and were out of sight of the house.

They quickly slowed to a leisurely pace similar to the one they had walked on the way over. Daryl took the duffel bag from Maddie and shifted it to his right hand and grabbed her right hand in his left. He felt less tense now that they were out of the house and headed back to his place. Maddie and he started bumping arms as they walked along, leaning into each other and enjoying the contact.

Looking sideways at him through her soft curls, Maddie ventured a question. "Where do you sleep in that house Daryl? And am I sleeping with you?"

Daryl stopped in his tracks. He hadn't even thought that far ahead. He had been so wrapped up in her sudden presence that he had not given a thought to anything beyond the next few minutes. He started to pull his hand from hers, suddenly embarrassed and feeling foolish. She gripped his hand tightly. He looked down at his feet and scuffed his boots on the pavement. He shrugged. "I haven't even thought of that. There's enough room in the house that you can have your own room of course." He could feel his face getting hot. He had honestly not given any thought at all to sleeping arrangements or anything else. He hoped she didn't think he expected her to sleep with him, now or ever. His old doubt rose up again. Of course she had been glad to see someone from before, someone she was familiar with. And she had just lost Marshall a month ago. She might not ever want to be with anyone again if her heart was crushed badly enough. He was crazy about her, but he did not expect her to feel the same about him. At her continued silence, he felt his chest constrict. Of course she would want her old room. Even in this world he was trash, unwanted by any decent woman. It would always be this way. He had made a fool of himself this afternoon.

He tried again to pull his hand from hers. Again she gripped it tight, and then shook her head. "No you don't Daryl Dixon. Don't you pull that don't give a damn act on me. We're going to settle this now, so there aren't any lingering doubts or questions."

He looked up at her from under his shaggy hair and shrugged. "Well tell me what you want Maddie." He unconsciously held his breath at her answer, his palm growing damp with nervousness.

Maddie tapped her foot and pulled him closer to her. "Well, I want you. I want us to be together the way we should have been years ago. I think we both knew there was something between us, but we took it for granted we had all the time in the world and did nothing about it. And look where it got us." He nodded slowly, looking at her more fully. "So, if you feel the same way I think we should just be together. In the same room, in the same bed." His mouth dropped open in happy surprise at this. Seeing this Maddie smiled softly. She knew he had a huge hole in him from his rough childhood and all the years after, always being teased and tormented by his hateful brother Merle. She knew he was suspicious of any kind gesture and slow to trust anyone. The fact that he had been this open with her this soon was a sure sign of how starved for affection and attention he was. Her heart ached for him. He was such a good man, so kind hearted and caring and he always hid it behind a gruff exterior for fear of being found out and having his heart crushed even more than it already was.

Daryl cleared his throat and sighed. "I don't want to push you into anything. Marshall hasn't been gone that long. I know you're probably still getting over that." Maddie nodded.

"Daryl, I loved Marshall. I was happy with him, I think we were both happy in the time we were together. But I don't believe there's only one person out there meant to be your soulmate. I mean, some folks are lucky and do find one person to grow old with. Other folks through circumstances end up being with and loving more than one person. Loving someone else doesn't take anything away or diminish the love that Marshall and I had." Daryl nodded. "I used to lie awake at night sometimes and think about you," she continued. Daryl's eyes widened and he shook his head slightly in disbelief. "Yes I did. Before the virus and even more afterwards. It didn't mean I was unhappy with Marshall, it's not like I was imagining you in bed beside me instead of him. But sometimes my mind would wander while I fell asleep and I'd catch myself wondering how you were, what you were doing, who you were with. And I used to pray that you would meet a woman who would be good to you and for you."

Daryl frowned. "What? Why would you be thinking about me meeting anyone?"

"Because I knew you deserved to be happy and to have someone care about you and love you same as anyone else on this earth. You're a good man. Marshall used to talk all the time about what a good man you are, how it was just lousy luck that you had Merle for a brother instead of someone who would help and encourage you. He used to brag about your tracking skills and how good you were living out in the woods-he said you were a true survivalist and after the virus hit and we all scattered he used to say that if anyone made it out of all this shit alive, it would be you. Not your brother, but you. He said your life's troubles had made you strong and that all your tracking and hunting and living on your own had prepared you for this. He said anyone lucky enough to have you with them would have a much better chance of survival."

Daryl bit his lip and shook his head. "Not that good –we've lost a lot of our people. I failed them."

Maddie squeezed his hand and placed her other hand on his cheek. He looked at her steadily, and she could see the doubt and sadness and guilt in his eyes. "You did the best you could under the circumstances. Bad things happen sometimes no matter how hard we try to avoid it. I have no doubt that if you asked any of those people in your group about you, they would have nothing but praise for you." She leaned up on her tiptoes and planted a soft kiss on his lips. "Now can we go to your place? I want to get settled in and find something to eat. I'm actually hungry for the first time in a very long time."

Daryl smiled and nodded his head, at a loss for words. How had this happened? How was it that a woman like her would've been thinking about him, wondering how he was and now was here beside him telling him she wanted to stay by his side from now on. He felt dazed and light headed, like back in the day when he would drink or smoke too much. Only this was a good kind of light headed. He didn't have to worry about a hangover tomorrow morning, or waking up to embarrassing memories of fights he had gotten in or some cruel prank Merle had played on him.

They turned and continued on their way toward his house. As they walked, Maddie noted from the corner of her eye that Daryl's posture straightened up, his gait had more confidence in it. She smiled and felt her heart turn over a little in her chest. Yes she had loved Marshall. But this, this feeling she had for Daryl was something entirely different. She felt as if they were two halves of a coin that had finally been rejoined. She remembered reading some book years ago while in school, Jane Eyre. The passage where Mr Rochester had told at last told Jane he loved her had always struck her as wildly hopelessly romantic. Something about their two hearts being joined by a thin thread, and if they were separated the thread would be broken and he would not survive the heartbreak. She had always wondered what a love so encompassing would be like-a passionate, unyielding love that would endure anything that life threw at the lovers. She remembered that all the great love affairs in literature had ended in death and despair and madness. Even so she had always longed for a love like those great romances-obsessive, possessive, love that was close to madness it was intense. An all consuming, never ending love. She felt that now, in this kind of world, a weak love wouldn't survive all the trials a couple would go through here in this wasteland. She felt instinctively that she and Daryl could have that type of love, if she could just lead him to loving himself and believing in himself.

She looked at him over at him as they walked along. She knew she would have to be patient and kind and tender with him, but had no doubt the end result would be worth the effort. She was used to jumping into situations headfirst and asking questions much later-but had never had any doubts whatever she jumped into would turn out right. With Daryl, being impatient would cause him to worry and doubt himself and withdraw into himself more. She stifled a sigh and resolved to tread carefully so this would turn out happily for the both of them.


	8. Chapter 8

When Daryl and Maddie at last arrived back at the house, everyone else in the group had returned from wherever they'd been assigned jobs that day. Most of them were seated in the living room eating off paper plates and talking about their experiences that day. A few were in the kitchen placing food on their plates from the dishes arranged buffet style on the large kitchen table. Rick and Carol were sitting with Carl and Judith in the little foyer area where they could catch the breeze from the open front door. They looked up at Daryl and Maddie and smiled.

"Good, you're back," Carol exclaimed. "Everyone's here so you can meet them real quick. Then we can get you settled in and you and Daryl can have supper. Some of the neighbors brought casseroles and fruit and veggies to welcome us, so there's more than enough for everyone here." Carol passed Judith to Rick and stood up.

Daryl started to shake his head and mumbled, "No need for all that. We just wanna get settled." He felt his face getting hot again at the thought of everyone looking at him and knowing his business.

"It's okay, Daryl," Maddie said, cutting off any further protest from him. "Might as well get it over with now so we can spend the evening relaxing and the quicker we all get used to each other the better." She squeezed his hand and pulled him along as she followed Carol to the arched doorway of the living room.

Maggie, Glen, Abraham, Noah, Rosita and Tara all looked up expectantly. Carol and Rick had filled everyone in on the little they knew about Daryl and Maddie so there wouldn't be a lot of questions when the two returned. They all knew Daryl was in a still grieving for the loss of Beth, Tyreese and Herschel and blamed himself for those losses. They were all worried about him, fearing he might leave and go off wandering alone in the outside, this time with no brother for company. He was a prickly character, difficult to get to know, but they all had in time come to realize he was loyal, devoted, kind and caring and would protect all of them to his last breath. He was one of those large, fierce guard dogs that could be frightening until they trusted you, and then they were your loving companion for life.

Carol stopped and stepped to Maddie's side and waved her hand in a little flourish. "Everyone, this is Daryl's friend Maddie. She brought the pies you tried. She knew Daryl from before and so she's going to move in with us and be a member of our group." She glanced anxiously at Daryl and caught him scowling at her-but she could see he was more anxious than angry.

Maddie smiled at everyone in the room and gave a little wave. "Hey y'all. Nice to meet Daryl's friends. I hope I don't cause too much disturbance in your routine by moving in here. I promise to help out with the housework and cooking if that's okay." The group in the living room nodded and murmured hello and smiled. No one dared look at anyone else –they wanted Daryl to be comfortable with the introductions –as comfortable as he could be anyway.

Daryl and Maddie and Carol turned toward the kitchen and walked toward that doorway. In the living room, Glen and Maggie exchanged glances and Rosita, Noah and Tara looked after the departing couple. "She's beautiful," whispered Tara.

Abraham nodded. "Yep, she is definitely a beautiful woman. And after tasting some of that pie she brought, I will be more than happy to have her help out with the cooking around here. Best pie I've had in a very long time."

Rosita slapped him on the arm jokingly. "No one's had any pie in forever, of course it's the best you've had." Abraham laughed in agreement.

Maggie whispered to Glen, "she's awfully young."

Glen shook his head at her. "Does it really matter nowadays? I for one don't care how old she is, as long as she can make him happy. He already looks way less stressed than he has in months." Maggie's mouth fell open in surprise at this. Glen squeezed her hand. "What? It's true. That guy looks ten years younger already. And besides, Abraham is right. That pie was great. I'm all for her helping out with the cooking and if we get a happier Daryl Dixon that is a cherry on top of it all." He laughed at Maggie's continued consternation. He leaned toward her and whispered in her ear, "Don't be selfish –everyone deserves to be as happy as we are." He kissed her cheek and she smiled back at him and nodded in agreement. Rick, watching them from the foyer, sighed in relief. He felt the same as everyone else-he had been worried about Daryl and felt that it didn't matter what it took to see Daryl happy, or at least what passed for happy with Daryl, it was worth any trouble involved.

Carol, Maddie and Daryl walked through the kitchen and stopped near the doorway to stairs to the basement. Carol turned towards Eugene, Michonne, and Sasha. They too had been clued in to the situation with Daryl along with everyone else. Sasha was happy for Daryl, even in her own pain she could see how much he had been suffering and was thankful someone's unhappiness could be lessened. She smiled at Maddie and Daryl. "Hi and nice to meet you. That pie was delicious, none of us has really had anything like that in a very long time. Thank you so much." Carol's eyes widened a little at this-Sasha had been so very quiet since first Bob and then her brother Tyreese had been lost to them. She had been very worried about Sasha-she and Daryl had seemed to be on the verge of coming permanently unglued and she and Rick had been whispering feverishly about what could be done to help the two. Carol hoped that if Sasha could see a change in Daryl then maybe she herself would begin again to feel a bit of hope.

Michonne nodded at Maddie. "Welcome," she said, but her eyes lingered on Daryl. She liked him, he was difficult to get to know but once she had figured him out she had realized what an asset he was to their group. He was solid and dependable. She too had been afraid he was coming unhinged in the weeks since they'd lost Beth and hoped this girl would help him find his way back from that edge. She herself had been at that precipice when she'd lost her son and her boyfriend. She couldn't even say what had kept her going all those months she'd been alone, but she was grateful every day that she had indeed kept going and met up with and been accepted by Rick and the group. She would keep an eye on Daryl and gauge how this girl affected him-she could see already that he seemed far less tense than he had been and that was a good start.

Eugene just kept his head down, still feeling ashamed and foolish for all the lies he'd fed these people for months. He was still surprised they'd let him continue on with them and felt he was responsible due to all his foolishness for the loss of Tyreese and Beth. He had doubted that either Daryl or Sasha would ever forgive him and vowed he would do anything he could to make this girl feel comfortable and welcome in their house.

Maddie looked at Eugene and then Daryl questioningly, but Daryl just shook his head and jutted his chin toward the stairs. Carol stepped out of their way. "Well, Daryl can continue with the tour now. Don't forget to come back up after you're settled so you can get something to eat." She patted Maddie's arm and headed back to the foyer. Maddie and Daryl headed down the stairs.

"Your room is in the basement?" Maddie asked. Daryl nodded then grinned.

"I've got the best room in the house. Just look" they stepped off the last step into a dark, cavernous room.

"I can't see anything," Maddie whispered.

"Hold on a sec, I've got a flashlight and then we can light some candles. Stay right here while I get them lit." He stepped away from her and she heard the click of the flashlight as a sudden beam of light illuminated the wall opposite them. She heard him striking a match, saw the flare of the flame and then the steady glow from a candle wick. He took that candle and lit three more. Although she couldn't see as clearly as she could have with regular light, what she could see made her sigh in relief.

The room was large, with the end nearest them containing a pool table and a sectional couch and chairs in a little seating arrangement. There were some end tables and lamps and an area rug was placed under the pool table. The floor was tile and she knew it would be cold in the winter. Daryl took her hand leaving her duffle bag on the pool table and with a candle in his other hand held out in front of him he led her toward a door further back. Daryl opened the door with a little flourish. "Ta da!" he ducked his head sheepishly and laughed. Maddie stepped into the room after him and squealed in surprise.

The room was almost as large as the room with the pool table. There was some sort of soft rug covering the entire floor. There was also a wood burning stove in one corner of the room and in the other corner a large four poster bed, tall enough she would need a boost up to sit on it. The wall by them, to the left of the door, had a large ornate dresser with a mirror. There was another door to the right of them, closest to the corner with the stove. He saw her looking and gave her a slight push in the small of her back. "Go on and look." He handed her the candle and walked back to the pool table to grab her bag. Maddie stepped through the door way and squealed again in surprised delight. It was a bathroom, small but with a walk in shower, toilet and sink –altogether it was like a small apartment or mother in law suite. She hadn't seen any door leading directly outside, like some of those basement apartments had had in the decorating magazines her mother had kept lying around the house. In a way she was glad of that, she wouldn't have to worry about anyone breaking in on them. At the same time though if someone did break in they would be trapped in the basement.

She stepped back out into the bedroom. No need to question Daryl about escape routes right now, she trusted him to have checked everything out before he claimed the basement as his. She could see why he had chosen it-the basement afforded privacy and felt safe-no large windows for walkers to smash through and she felt sure there was a safe room or some escape route he had rigged just in case. She ran over to him and threw her arms around him and laughed. "I love it!" He laughed and squeezed her hard against him.

"Really? You'll be able to see better in the morning. It's bigger than any place I've ever stayed in and it's just the basement." He pointed out toward the pool table. "We don't have to keep that down here if you don't want to. And there's a spot back under the stairs where we can put a small refrigerator for drinks or snacks or something."

Maddie elbowed him and snorted. "Right, I can see you're already planning where to put your beer stash so you don't have to go up and down the stairs or share it with anyone."

Daryl kissed her forehead. "Naw, don't hardly ever drink anymore. Gotta stay alert, and besides I act like a dick when I drink nowadays. Too much on my mind, I guess."

Maddie raised up on her tiptoes and kissed him again softly on the lips. "That's okay, I don't have much appetite for such myself anymore. I guess we can keep our Kool Aid in there and maybe some soda." Daryl nodded. "Guess we're some old fuddy duddies now, hunh?"

Maddie kissed him again, lingering longer and looked up at him shyly. "Guess we need to find some new activities if we aren't going to be drinking then." She bumped her hip into his and jumped away from him as he swung his hand toward her ass. She backed up to the dresser with the duffel bag in her hands and dropped it in front of the dresser at her feet. She licked her lips slowly and batted her eyes up at him. "Daryl" she breathed out slowly in that low, smoky voice she used when she wanted to get a man's attention. He stopped and stared at her uncertainly. His experiences in the past with women had always been brief and hasty couplings, usually with some drunk bar whore his brother had pushed off on him. These had always left him feeling disappointed and disgusted with himself. He knew the mechanics of fucking, but nothing of the nuances of bedding someone you loved. He felt sure he would disappoint her. Not to mention that he was filthy and in sore need of a long scrubbing in a very hot shower. All this caused him to feel anxious again, although he tried not to show it. He cleared his throat and gazed at her shyly. He began to nibble on his thumb in that nervous way that he had.

Maddie knew she had disconcerted him. She really hadn't meant to make him think she wanted to hop into bed right now with him. She was just teasing him, and realized again that this poor man was very broken and only patience and tenderness would begin to mend some of that brokenness. He would never be whole, there would always be cracks in his heart and rifts in his soul, but in time she hoped she could make him more whole than he was presently.

She tapped her foot and pointed at him. "Listen, I know you don't need to eat very often but we small girls need some sustenance. I know Carol said they had more than enough food up there. Why don't we go back up and grab something and then we can either bring it back down here or stay up there and visit?' She saw his shoulders relax.

"Okay, if you want to stay up there we will. Whatever you want to do, we'll do it," he replied. "First though, I need to take a shower and clean up some." He grabbed a candle and headed toward the bathroom. She knew he would want some privacy so she waved him off.

"Go on then and primp. I'll go upstairs for a bit and visit a little and see what type of vittles there are." He opened his mouth to protest but she waved him off again. "I know how you men are, ya take way longer than any woman to clean up. I don't know why tv always showed women taking forever to get ready, in my experience it's always been the guys that take forever."

He stood hesitantly in the bathroom doorway. Maddie laughed. "Go on Daryl. Take your time. I'm not going anywhere but upstairs to get some food. I promise." She turned and walked quickly toward the basement stairs before he could say anything. She knew he needed some alone time to process everything that had happened this afternoon. And she wanted to see what type of people he had been living with the last two years. She took it for granted they were good people, he wouldn't have joined up with any of the bad groups she and Marshall had heard about and avoided. Those were mostly men, using the virus and it's aftermath to behave like animals. Raping, burning settlements down, murdering women and children randomly and torturing any men they ran across if those men refused to join them. She and Marshall had very narrowly avoided being caught by a couple of these groups and Marshall had made her promise that if they ever did get caught she would kill herself rather than let herself be used by those assholes. She had readily agreed. Life was harsh enough as it was, no point in letting somebody terrorize her and use her just to stay alive. That was not living, death would be a blessing compared to that.

Maddie climbed the stairs quickly and entered the kitchen. Eugene was the only one in there, sitting at the large table. Some of the dishes had been cleared, and some had been consolidated but she could see there was till plenty left. She leaned over the table and quickly inventoried the dishes that were left-one looked like a chicken pot pie-she had always loved that. It was definitely one of her favorite comfort foods. She had made it pretty often for Marshall while they were alone because even without chicken it was filling.

"Anything in particular that tasted especially good?" she asked Eugene. He slowly raised his eyes to her, seemingly confused that she was speaking to him.

Abraham wandered into the kitchen and glared at Eugene. "Hey, Eugene, someone's speaking to you. Be polite to answer her." Maddie looked at Abraham questioningly. He gave a small shrug and whispered, "explain later." She nodded. Eugene continued to stare at her wordlessly, but she didn't feel threatened. He seemed dazed and unsure of what was going on around him. She'd ask Daryl later what that story was. Abraham pointed at another dish and told her it had been good-he thought it was some type of pasta. She nodded again. He turned to the counter and pointed at two or three different types of bread. "There's butter too," and he pointed to a container on the counter by the bread. "There's tea and soda and juice in the fridge and of course bottled water," he continued.

Maddie nodded again. "I've been here six months myself, and still can't get used to the fact that we have electricity again, ice, a variety of food that we can cook in ovens. I work in the bakery and it feels so good to be able to bake again." Abraham smiled down at her. "I know it's silly after everything all of us have been through to get excited about being able to bake a pie again, but I think when I pulled my first pie out of the oven here I finally felt like things might be okay again. Not ever like they used to be, and that may be a good thing, but maybe a little more normal than what they have been."

Abraham nodded in agreement. "I hope we all feel like you sometime soon. I guess we each have to find our own version of your pie baking to make us feel settled again." He turned to the fridge, grabbed a soda out and popped it open and headed back to the living room.

Maddie glanced over at Eugene and headed toward Carol and Rick who were still sitting in the foyer. Judith had fallen asleep in Rick's arms and he seemed reluctant to put her down to bed. Carol glanced up at Maddie. "Judith is pretty much everyone's baby. And she's usually a happy baby. Maybe tomorrow you can get a chance to hold her."

Maddie gave a rueful smile and shook her head slightly. "That's okay, I've never been much of one for babies. Never really was around any, didn't babysit any in high school and sure haven't been around any since all this started." She shrugged and gazed at Judith sleeping, unaware that her expression had softened and her lips had curved into a small, sweet smile.

Carol studied her. "Hmmmm. Daryl is actually the best one with Judith. He's like a natural baby whisperer. Most times he's the only one who can calm her down and get her to sleep." She noticed that this did not seem to surprise Maddie.

Maddie glanced up and saw Daryl standing in the kitchen doorway. She had forgotten how quiet he could be. Gazing directly at him, Maddie said, "I'm not surprised at that Carol. Daryl always did have a special way with children and animals. He has the kindest heart of anyone I know, although he would fight you if you told him that. Maybe some day he'll have a chance to play daddy with his own kids." Carol saw out of the corner of her eye that Daryl was standing in the kitchen doorway and had heard the exchange. The look on his face was one she had never seen on his face before-a look of pure joy and happiness, a look of pure love. And she saw the look on Maddie's face was the look of pure love being accepted and returned to the giver. She said a silent prayer of thanks that this girl and Daryl had somehow found each other again and prayed that this would be the start of healing for all of them.

Maddie made her way back across the room to where Daryl stood. "Did you see anything you want to eat?" she whispered. He nodded, not able to trust his voice after hearing what she had just said. His heart felt too full for his chest and he wanted to pinch his arm. He was sure that he would wake up soon to another day of despair and desolation and that this was some foolish hallucination that his unhinged mind had concocted. But at the same time if this was the workings of a mind gone mad, he didn't want to ever return to sanity again.

"I'm not much for eating any of that kind of stuff. I'll just grab some bread and butter," he murmured against her ear. "But you go ahead and get whatever you want." He pushed her toward the table. Maddie realized that she was no longer hungry. Instead her stomach was twisting and turning in nervous anticipation of being alone in the basement with him. She mechanically spooned some chicken pot pie onto a paper plate, grabbed a napkin and plastic fork and snagged a bottle of water out of the fridge. Daryl was standing in the stair doorway and looked askance at the tiny amount of food on her plate. He snorted. "After all that about how hungry you are, and that's all you got? Don't worry about trying to pretend to hardly eat around me like all y'all girls do around guys. I've seen you wolf down nearly a whole pizza back in the day, so I know for a little girl you can pack it in." He snickered when he saw how red her face had gotten. She huffed out a breath and lightly kicked his leg.

"It's not false modesty smart ass," she snapped. "I just don't have any appetite, that's all. I'll probably eat a lot at breakfast." With that she squeezed past him and practically ran down the steps and plopped herself down on the couch. Daryl shook his head in bemusement and followed her down the stairs. He sat down next to her and watched as she picked at her food silently. He looked at his bread and realized he had no appetite suddenly his own self. After a few more minutes, he snorted. She looked over at him. "Guess neither one of us is very hungry. Do you want to take a shower? I'll stay out here so you can take your time." Maddie nodded and stood up quickly.

"You can come in the bedroom while I'm in the shower. You're probably tired and can stretch out on the bed." He hesitated, feeling nervous and anxious again, but followed her into the bedroom. She grabbed some clothes out of the duffel bag and turned to the bathroom.

"There's shampoo and soap and toothpaste and all that shit in there already," he said.

Maddie nodded, "I think when they know folks are going to move into a house, they try to get it stocked with the basics ahead of time," she told him.

Daryl nodded and sat gingerly on the edge of the bed. "Take your time, that water was good and hot," he told her. She nodded and went into the bathroom and shut the door. She leaned against it and sighed. Maybe she should have gotten some alcohol to bring down here. It felt strange to be nervous at the thought of being in bed with a man. She hadn't been with anyone but Marshall for years now, and since his death she had pretty much put the thought of ever being involved with any guy ever again completely out of her mind. Well, she was sure Daryl was just as nervous as she was, if not more so. That might be to both of their advantage. If they went at this slowly it could be really amazing and wonderful.

Daryl heard the shower start up and sighed. He wished he had some alcohol or a joint to calm his nerves. He'd never been with a woman sober or straight. The women he had been with had been as drunk if not more drunk or stoned than he had been. Most of the time he barely remembered the experience. And he'd never been with any woman more than once. Maybe that meant he'd been a lousy lay. Merle used to laugh about guys he knew who came too quick, couldn't get it up or keep it up. Merle had bragged that he himself had a steady stream of women who couldn't be satisfied by their men and relied on old Merle to fix them up. Daryl was sure most of it was bullshit, but then again the women Merle took home weren't the pickiest or the brightest or prettiest. He supposed that if a person was desperate enough they could find someone willing to fuck them if you bought them enough drinks or pills or whatever it was they needed. He stood up and began to pace nervously about the room. Just then he heard the shower cut off and he sat back down quickly. Unconsciously he began to viciously tear at the skin around his thumbnail with his teeth, in a short time his thumb was a bloody mess. He sighed and wiped his thumb on his pants and rubbed his hand across his mouth anxiously.

Maddie came out of the bathroom, her hair hanging down her back in a damp, curly mass. She wore a too large dark tshirt that came down almost to her knees. He had no clue as to what she had on underneath that. The thought made his throat go dry and he found he couldn't swallow. He felt the heat rise up in his cheeks and his chest felt tight, almost like he couldn't breathe.

Maddie saw how anxious he had become and smiled gently at him. "Hey Daryl, I'm just exhausted. Would you mind if we just laid down and went to sleep?"

Daryl felt a wave of relief wash over him. "No, that's fine," he mumbled and stood up and pulled the sheets back on the bed.

"Can you blow out the candles too? I can't sleep unless it's completely dark. Sorry I'm so particular about sleeping." Daryl frowned. He seemed to remember Marshall saying something one time about Maddie leaving all the lights on in the house all night long. Something along the lines of her being afraid of the dark and if the house was dark and she woke up in the middle of the night she got panicky. Hmmmmm. Maybe he was remembering it wrong. Maybe the last two years had cured her of that fear since it was best to have a place dark at night so no walkers were attracted to the light and you didn't catch the attention of any assholes.

"Sure, that's not a problem Maddie." He leaned over and blew out the two candles he'd put on the dresser. The room was instantly plunged into a darkness so absolute that he could barely make out his hand in front of his face. He heard her trying to climb up onto the bed and realized it was a bit too tall for her. "Hey hold on, I'll give you a boost up onto the bed." But before he could get on her side of the bed he heard her land on the mattress as if she'd jumped. "ooooof!" she giggled.

"I'm good, I just jumped up and made it the first try." She giggled again. He shook his head and mentally started a list of things he'd need to get for her, the first thing on the list being some type of stepstool so she could get into bed without jumping every night. That would get real old real quick.

He heard her sigh as she laid back on the bed. He had to admit, it was the most comfortable bed he'd ever laid in. Not that he'd ever had a choice of any top of the line beds like those fancy pick a number things they had always advertised on tv. Nope, he had grown up sleeping on lumpy, stained mattresses on sheets that were worn thin and barely in one piece. Just a thin blanket for cover in the winter. The last two years of sleeping on concrete floors or the ground had been no worse than sleeping on that shitty mattress had been. But this bed-the first time he'd lain on it a few days ago he'd unconsciously sighed in wonder at how soft and comfortable it was. He could see now why some folks slept in so late-if you got used to sleeping that comfortably you wouldn't want to get out of that bed.

He yawned suddenly and stretched his hands over his head, feeling some of the tension leave his body. He shucked off his jeans and socks and climbed up into the bed. He left his shirt on, even though she couldn't see him in the dark he still felt uncomfortable having his shirt off. He knew eventually she would see the scars and old burn marks on his back, but he didn't want to take the chance of her seeing them in the morning light. He laid on what he thought of as his side of the bed and listened to her breathing. He couldn't tell if she was asleep, or almost asleep or wide awake like he was. Finally, because he couldn't fully relax without worrying about disturbing her, he reached out his hand and felt for her shoulder. "Maddie," he whispered as he lightly placed his hand on her shoulder. She seemed to be on her side, facing away from him. When he got no response, he allowed himself to relax and placed his hands behind his head, staring up toward the ceiling. He wondered how he'd ever go to sleep knowing she was right there beside him. Well, he'd never been much of one for sleep anyway. Best to stay awake in case she woke up frightened in the dark.

The next thing he knew, he was lying with his chest to her back-spooning he drowsily thought. One arm was under her head, and the other draped across her ribs. Her hands held his left arm, her head nestled in the crook of his arm. He could smell the light scent of the shampoo and soap she'd used as well as something else, something slightly sweet that reminded him of the way fresh honey smelled or that bottle of vanilla his mom had kept in the kitchen, not that she had ever baked anything. She wiggled closer to him and sighed. He could feel himself getting hard. This was not going to work, he would end up waking her up and making a fool of himself. He tried to slow his breathing down and to ease away from her. As he started to shift his arm out from under her neck, she yawned and turned toward him. Great, now she was lying chest to chest with him and she would for sure feel his hard on. He tried again to move away from her and she placed her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her.

"Don't leave me" she murmured against his chest. He could feel her breasts against his chest, the thin material of her shirt and his as well doing nothing to mitigate the heat from her body. "Daryl," she whispered. Her lips brushed against his jaw. He pulled her closer to him with a low moan and felt her tshirt slide up in the back baring her skin to his touch. She threw her leg up over his hip and scooted ever closer to him. He could feel her breath on his neck and knew he either had to yank himself out of the bed or let nature take it's course. She sighed again against his neck and he was lost. He lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her deeply. Her passion in returning his kiss surprised him. He rolled her over onto her back and pulled her shirt up over her head and threw it over his shoulder. Her teeth chattered. "Are you cold?" he whispered.

"No," she half moaned. She placed one of his hands on her breast and her other touched his cheek. "I want to be with you," she whispered breathily against his lips. He nodded and kissed her again. She arched up against him and he gently ran his hand down her breast to her stomach and stopped. She had come to bed in just the tshirt after all. She sighed again and pushed his hand down further toward her pelvis. He half sat up and then leaned over her holding her shoulders down with his hands. His mouth travelled from her lips to her throat, where he could feel her pulse throbbing rapidly. Her breath hitched a little as he kissed her neck and moved to her breasts. He kissed first one nipple, then the other. She arched up against him again and moved her legs restlessly. He carefully ran his tongue around one nipple while his hand gently rolled her other nipple in his fingers. She tasted sweet, and heat came off her in waves. As hot as she was, her teeth continued to chatter as if she were freezing.

He slowly moved his mouth down toward her stomach, running his tongue briefly around her belly button. He hesitated at this point. He had never in his life put his mouth on any woman's pussy. The women he had been with had never been the cleanest and no matter how drunk he had gotten he just couldn't think about putting his mouth there without gagging. He knew Maddie was clean, the closer his face got to her pussy, the more intense her scent became. It was sweet and yet faintly salty. He wasn't sure how to proceed but was determined not to disappoint her. He moved his mouth lower and her legs splayed open, inviting him to place his mouth there. He ran his hands up and down her inner thighs slowly and then spread them wider and lowered his mouth to her. He kissed her deeply at first, there on her other lips. She was soaking wet. He ran his tongue up and down her lips and she bucked up against his mouth unexpectedly.

"Tell me what you want me to do Maddie. I'm not any good at this, and I want you to like this," he whispered.

She shook her head and moaned. "I want you in me. Come back up here and kiss me on my mouth and hold me and put yourself in me," she sighed. He kissed her again on her inner thigh and slid up to her face. She put her arms around his neck and pulled him down to her mouth. Her tongue slid into his mouth and she started running her tongue all around his teeth and sucked his tongue. He could feel her hard nipples pressing against his chest even through his shirt. She spread her legs wider and raised her legs up around his hips, scooting him closer to her. "Please," she whispered against his neck. Hearing her just about drove him over the edge. As it was, he knew he wasn't going to last very long. He'd be lucky if he didn't come within the first few strokes. But at this point he couldn't wait any longer.

He put a hand on his rock hard cock and carefully guided himself into her. He moaned immediately. "Oh my god you're so fucking wet. And hot, you're like a furnace in there," he groaned. She tightened her legs around his waist and started moving against him. "Slow down baby," he groaned. "I want this to last more than a minute for both of us." She shook her head and groaned again.

"No, hurry," she moaned. He started to move with her, slowly at first and then finding their rhythm he started slamming his full length into her as deeply as he could. All thoughts of being careful or gentle were gone. His worry about not lasting very long was gone as well. All he could think of was how tight and hot and wet she felt and how good it felt to sheath himself as deeply as he could and hear her moan when he pulled back.

Sweat dripped from his forehead onto her face and he could feel himself about to tip over the edge into coming. He bit his lip in concentration and pulled her closer to him. Her mouth was on his neck and she grazed her teeth lightly against his skin as she moaned louder. That was all it took for him. He pumped faster and felt momentarily dizzy as he poured himself into her. He continued to shudder inside her for a few minutes. He had never felt anything so intense. He sighed and slowly raised himself off her. She tightened her legs around him momentarily then released him. She turned to her side and pressed her back against his chest, pulling his arms around her. He kissed her hair and her neck. She sighed contentedly and pulled his arms tighter around her. "Thank you," she murmured. He smiled against her hair and kissed her again. He had no words for how he felt. He fell asleep listening to Maddie breathe and knew this was how he wanted to fall asleep the rest of his life, however long that might be.


	9. Chapter 9

Daryl opened his eyes much later to find Maddie lying on her side, her head propped up on her hand gazing intently at him. Her eyes were filled with tears, and as he looked at her she blinked and the tears began to course down her cheeks. He bit his lip, was she already regretting being with him? He placed his hand on her shoulder and ran his thumb in circles on her warm skin.

"Are you alright? What's wrong, girl?" he whispered. She smiled sadly.

"Oh Daryl," she whispered back, "I'm just happy." He frowned at that.

"You're happy? But you're crying," and he pulled her closer to him, wrapping his arms around her tightly. She gave a small laugh.

"It's a girl thing." He nodded and kissed the top of her head.

"Guess I got a lot to learn, hunh?" he asked, squeezing her tightly. She pulled away and pushed him onto his back. Swinging her leg over him, she slowly lowered herself onto his already hard cock, then leaned down on his chest. Her hands gripped his shoulders. He opened his eyes in surprise at this and gave a short laugh. "Ain't never woke up with a girl in my bed before," he explained. She pinched his shoulder lightly.

"Never hunh?" she teased. He shook his head, a suddenly serious look on his face.

"No, never. I was usually at their place or some shit motel and come morning I got out as fast as I could. Didn't wanna deal with anything with a hangover." He kept his eyes on her, gauging her reaction to what he'd told her. She pinched him lightly again.

"Well, don't even think about trying to sneak off and leave me anywhere ever," she whispered. He shook his head again. She brushed his hair out of his eyes and they stared intently into each other's eyes.

"No," he whispered huskily, "no, I ain't never leaving you anywhere. I ain't ever waking up next to anyone else but you, if that's what you want." In answer, she placed her hands on his cheeks tenderly and gave him a long, deep kiss. He wrapped his arms around her and flipped them over to where she was beneath him. She wrapped her legs around his hips and he sheathed himself as deeply as he could in her. Then he kissed her neck and she sighed.

"I love you Daryl," she whispered. He placed his lips on hers and without words answered her with his kiss. She hiccupped a sob, and he kissed her cheek.

"I hope these are the only tears you ever cry with me," he whispered. She nodded in understanding. They began to move slowly together, instinctively adjusting their rhythm to each other quickly. Neither spoke as they held each other tightly, each of them feeling if they let go even the slightest they would fall. They each had the feeling of being off balance-lightheaded and dizzy- and the only real thing at the moment was the feel of each other as they kissed and touched and moved together.

Afterwards he lay on his back with her curled on his side, her head on his shoulder. Her arm was across his chest, his hand over it rubbing her skin gently. He sighed and squeezed her closer. They lay there, content in each other's company until they heard a knock at the bedroom door. Startled, Daryl sat up quickly and stretched his arm out without thinking in a protective shield across Maddie. "Who is it?" he rasped.

"Hey, it's just Carol. Thought you might want some breakfast –most of us are leaving for work, but we left some food out on the counter for you two." Maddie sat up suddenly, brushing her curls out of her face. "What time is it?" she whispered to Daryl. He shrugged and turned back to the closed door. "Hey, what time is it Carol?" He shouted toward the door.

"It's eight o'clock," she replied. "I'll see you two later, I'm leaving now. Have a good day." They heard her footsteps retreating across the tile floor. He turned to Maddie.

"Do you have a job you have to go to?" he asked. She nodded.

"Yeah, I work in a bakery. Bread, donuts, pie. Stuff like that." He nodded.

"What time ya gotta be there?" She smiled.

"I usually go in around six, that way I can get out of there no later than 3 or so." He shook his head.

"Are ya gonna be in trouble for being late?" Already he was causing her grief. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

"Oh, no. My boss is very understanding," she whispered. He nodded.

"Well that's good. So who is it, your boss?" She laughed against his skin as she leaned against his arm. "Me. I'm my own boss. It's my bakery," she replied. He could tell she was proud of this, and he could understand that. It was always nice to be in control of your life in any way. He nodded and swung his legs out of bed. Pulling her toward him he squeezed her hand.

"Well, c'mon then. Let's get you to work so that folks won't say what a bad influence I am on ya." Glancing up at his face, she could see he was teasing. He stood up and grabbing her waist in both hands lifted her down to the floor. "And while you're baking today, I'm going to find you something so you can get in and out of bed without breaking a leg," he told her. He kissed her cheek and turned to find something clean to wear. He had found some jeans and tshirts at a place Deanna had told them about –all free-since his group had worn their clothes to rags. They had gone in groups to the place, like one of those old consignment shops his mom used to get his and Merle's clothes from. But where those clothes had been shabby hand me downs and he'd had to bear the looks of scorn from the other kids at school when they'd recognized their discarded clothes on him, these clothes had looked brand new or pretty close to new. He wondered where they had found so much decent clothing after all this time. He'd thought most of the stores outside had been ransacked or burned but apparently they had found someplace intact where they had been able to get clothes, soap, shampoo, detergent-all that stuff most folks used to take for granted and that he had never thought to see in any abundance ever again.

Maddie stepped over to her duffel bag and pulled out some underthings-he noted she had grabbed a bra-and then some shorts and a tshirt. She quickly slipped it all on, then dug in the bag some more and pulled out some socks and tennis shoes. He had forgotten how small she was-her shoes looked no bigger than some kid's shoes. He felt awkward and clumsy pulling on his socks and boots-his feet were huge compared to hers. His hands swallowed her tiny ones. He shook his head-he would have to keep in mind that no matter her physical size, she was a tough little thing and she didn't like being babied or treated as if she couldn't pull her own weight.

He watched her walk into the bathroom and heard her brushing her teeth. He'd definitely better up his hygiene routine now that he was sharing a room with her. She had always been picky about that-he remembered Marshall teasing her about using up all the hot water in her long showers, and hogging all the toothpaste and mouthwash. He'd called her obsessive about brushing her teeth and showering, but the tone of his voice implied that he was proud of her for taking care of herself. He had never been a big one for bathing on a regular basis, and that had paid off the last two years on the outside. Being filthy meant the walkers couldn't smell you and kept you safe that way at least. But he was on the inside now, and with Maddie and if that meant taking showers every day and scrubbing his teeth then he would gladly do so. It was a small price to pay for her company. He knew already he would pretty much do anything for her to keep her with him. And for once, Merle's voice was absent in his head taunting him about what a sorry pussywhipped loser he was. In fact, he hadn't thought of Merle all last night or this morning so far. Maybe, if he was lucky, he was done hearing Merle. And that would be more than alright with him.

He stretched his arms over his head and walked over to the sink and grabbed a toothbrush and squeezed the tube. He began vigorously scrubbing his teeth, his eyes following her as she headed back into the bedroom. He noted she didn't have any makeup or perfume or any other girly stuff spread all over the bathroom. He remembered that Marshall had jokingly complained about any girl that he'd ever shacked up with leaving all that stuff all over the bathroom and bedroom. Frowning, he couldn't recall ever hearing Marshall say anything like that about Maddie. He really couldn't recall her ever wearing makeup, come to think of it. He knew she had to have had something on, girls liked their lipstick and that other crap but if Maddie had worn any she hadn't worn much. He spit in the sink and rinsed his mouth. Was he lucky enough to have one of those fabled low maintenance girls he had heard Marshall and other guys talk about like they talked about some prize buck they'd sought or some prize fish they'd pursued? Again, he knew if she wasn't and ended up trailing all sorts of girl stuff all over his little room he wouldn't care. He acknowledged he was firmly wrapped around her finger and for all intents and purposes he was hers, heart and soul. He just didn't want anyone else but her to know that. One thing for them to know this-another thing entirely for other people to see what was going on. He had a reputation as a hard ass and he intended on keeping it that way. He had no idea that his group had stopped thinking of him as some rough, rude redneck jerk long ago. He had revealed his soft heart and kindness many times to them unknowingly and they had enough respect and love for him that they all had a tacit agreement amongst them to keep up the pretense of believing him to be a man not to mess with for the sake of his pride. It was little enough they could do for him after all that he had done for all of them over and over, without question or complaint.

They walked up the stairs and into the kitchen quietly. After looking into the living area quickly they turned and looked at each other in bemusement. "Guess they really did all clear outta here," Maddie said. Daryl shrugged and started putting some kind of egg casserole on a paper plate. "Good. More time for us to be alone," he murmured. She laughed happily and grabbed a plate and put some sausage and bacon on it. They got some milk out of the fridge and sat down side by side at the table, eating and drinking in companionable silence.

Finished, they tossed the plates in the garbage, rinsed out the glasses and headed to the front door with Daryl in the lead. He had grabbed his crossbow from his room before they had gone upstairs and slung it over his shoulder now before opening the door. On the porch he looked at her sheepishly and bit his thumb. "Probly looks dumb, me carrying this around here," he mumbled.

Maddie reached over and squeezed his hand. "Not at all Daryl. You've only been here a few days. You're not used to being in a place that's "safe", and she used her free hand to make an air quote as she said the word safe. Daryl frowned.

"Whadda ya mean? You don't feel safe here?" his voice was getting a bit angry, a sign he was worried or anxious. Maddie sighed and shook her head.

"No, Daryl. I don't know how to explain it exactly but I do know that if Marshall hadn't been sick we would not have stayed here." She sighed again and leaned her back against the porch rail. Daryl grunted and jerked his chin at her to continue talking. She folded her arms over her chest and seemed to be thinking how to say something. "Mmmmmm, the folks here are nice by and large. Very open and welcoming. But….." she paused, a little frown crinkling between her eyebrows. "there's just something off about it all. I mean, most of these folks were not on the outside very long before they got walled up in here. They have no fucking idea of what all went on or are still going on out there. They've been in here, fat and well fed, wearing their nice clothes and having cocktail parties like nothing ever happened. Like the world can go back to the way it was if they pretend hard enough." She shook her head. "It's not that I think any of them would hurt me, or hurt anyone else-" she paused and stared at him intently, "not intentionally. But I think their total denial of the real situation the world is in now will eventually lead to some horrible disaster." He stared back at her, studying her. She wasn't scared, but she was concerned.

"What do you think is gonna happen Maddie?" he continued to watch her closely, trying to gauge her feelings.

"I think sooner or later-probably sooner-one of those gangs of rapists and murderers are going to get in here somehow and things will go to shit pretty quick." He looked down the street toward the wall.

"What about that wall they're so damn proud of?" he asked her.

"Shit, Marshall and I found a way to get out of here right after we came. Marshall wanted a way to make a quick getaway if things went wrong here. There's a couple of places where we could jab some climbing picks in the wall and use them to climb up. On the other side there are some trees. One or two are close enough to grab a branch and either climb down or drop down."

Daryl tapped his foot and frowned. "Didn't you worry about somebody finding your picks?"

She shook her head. "No, we always got them back when we climbed back in. They're in the bottom of my duffel bag. Along with some rope to use on the tree. Marshall was afraid I'd fall trying to grab the branch and insisted on throwing a loop on the branch so I could grab it and swing over." Daryl nodded, still frowning. She could see he was deep in thought.

"Good thinking," he mumbled.

"We found an old falling down shack," she continued, "bout a quarter mile back in the woods. Marshall and I hid some extra supplies in another duffel bag in a hole we dug and camouflaged. We added some guns and ammo" Daryl looked up in surprise and interrupted her.

"Hey, we had to turn all our guns in when we got here. They got them all locked up someplace." Maddie laughed.

"Do you really think, no matter how sick Marshall got that he wouldn't have some kind of back up plan complete with weapons and ammo? He created a commotion a few times, not enough for anyone to get suspicious, and when he did I swiped some of the guns and ammo and hid them in my purse," she explained.

Daryl snorted. "Purse? You don't never carry no damn purse."

She laughed louder, "they didn't know that, did they?" He whistled in appreciation at her cleverness. "Damn, you and Marshall were like a regular Bonnie and Clyde weren't you?" He laughed ruefully and rubbed his jaw. Maddie blushed and shrugged.

"Well, we wanted to be careful and better safe than sorry." She kicked his boot with her little tennis shoe. "Guess what else we did," she whispered conspiratorially. He raised his eyebrows and shook his head.

"There ain't no tellin'. If ya told me ya had a tank hid, I'd believe ya." He pulled her close to him and wrapped his arms tightly around her. "So what other illegal and unlawful things did you and Clyde get up to?" he whispered in her ear. She shivered at his breath against her skin and smiled.

"Well," she drawled out, "we put some plants out there, up in the trees and kept watch on it." He laughed out loud.

"Figure Marshall to be trying to grow pot out among the zombies," he snickered. At her silence, he glanced down at her thinking she was insulted or hurt. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Ha, best behave or you'll never see how good that shit is," she teased. He raised his eyebrows.

"What? You mean you got a crop?" She nodded.

"Yep, a very small one but it came in handy there at the end when Marshall had a lot pain." She paused and gave a little shrug. "They have medicine here, but not anything to cut that kind of pain. So we harvested it and then he could smoke it when the pain got bad." He squeezed her closer and kissed her gently on the top of her head.

"Maddie, I'm so sorry," he murmured. She nodded, "me too," she whispered back.

She cleared her throat a little and whispered again, "I still have some-that's in the duffel bag too. I was thinking about going over the wall soon to try to get another batch going. And to check on our duffel bag we buried. I haven't been over the wall in over two months. I was afraid to leave him that last month, and then since he passed I haven't really thought of it. I think I was afraid that if I went over I might let a walker get me. Or I'd use one of the guns to kill myself. I just felt so alone." She wiped a tear from her cheek. Daryl pulled her away from him and held her at arms length and shook her slightly, his fingers digging slightly into her arms.

"You promise me, Maddie. Promise me that you won't go over that wall alone. Ever," he emphasized shaking her a bit harder. Maddie patted his hands and smiled and nodded.

"I promise you I won't ever go over that wall alone," she replied, stressing the word alone. "That is why I told you all this. You're going to go over with me." Before he could say anything, she shook him a little. "I mean it, you and I are going to have an escape plan. And we're going to include your group. We need to be smart, and we already know we're all safer in a group than alone or just two or three of us. It sounds like your group is pretty solid and they know how to handle things when shit goes wrong. We don't have to tell them all, and not all at once. But I want Rick and Michonne and Carol to know soon." Daryl nodded in agreement. "And we're not discussing it in the house or anywhere near the house," she added stubbornly. He looked at her in confusion. "Marshall thought the houses were bugged somehow." Daryl's mouth dropped open. "Yes, he thought it was too strange for these folks to just accept random strangers and not somehow keep an eye on them. He crawled all over our bedroom one night trying to find something. I thought he was out of his head from pain or something. Then he put his fingers on his lips and motioned me over to the dresser. He pointed at a picture frame. It had seashells or something all over it. One of the shells had a nick or something on it. He pointed at it and nodded. Then he wrote on a piece of paper to not say anything but he was sure that was a bug. He wrote that Deanna had been in the government and she would have had access to some hi tech shit. He also reminded me that this town had been a model for a self sustaining community and that folks who had moved here had voluntarily signed off on privacy rights. He figured the folks who had set up the community were monitoring the residents as some sort of experiment."

"Jesus Christ," Daryl exhaled.

"So, whenever Marshall and I had anything important to say we wrote it on paper and then tore it up and burned it in the sink. Then I remembered I'd had a cousin who was deaf and I had learned a little sign language to be able to talk to her. Marshall and I started using that too, what little bits I could remember."

Daryl just stood there-feelings of betrayal, anger, and disgust rolled over him rapidly. Maddie just stood watching him-knowing that what he was feeling was what she had felt. Then he sighed and shrugged his shoulders, as if trying to ease the tension in them. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

"Fuck. Ain't this just the shit?" he mumbled. Maddie squeezed his hand back.

"C'mon old man, let's talk about all this later after you've had time to think about it." He bumped her shoulder with his at her calling him old man. Well, really he was compared to her. She had just been a baby of 18 when he'd first met her, and that had been what? Three, four years ago? So she was maybe 21 or 22? He was 35-almost old enough to be her father. But what the hell, who cared about those things now? She sure didn't and he wasn't going to fuck this up by griping about her being too young for him and all that other bullshit. This was a different world and there were no rules anymore.


	10. Chapter 10

They walked down the step and he followed her lead, grasping her small hand tightly in his. They started off in the same direction as they had walked last night to get her stuff from that house she'd stayed in. As they passed the fourth house on their right, Maddie stopped and waved. Looking over, Daryl saw the guy who had "recruited" his group-Aaron. Aaron waved back. Maddie stepped over onto the grass nearer the porch and looked up at Aaron and smiled.

"Aaron, I expect you already been introduced to Daryl here since you brought his group in," she said. Aaron nodded, gazing quizzically at Daryl and then at their hands clasped together. "Well," she continued, "I knew Daryl from back before. He and his brother were friends with Marshall before I ever met any of them. They grew up in the same town together, that kind of stuff." Aaron nodded and smiled broadly.

"It's nice you've found each other again," he said. Daryl gazed at him sharply, trying to see if Aaron was being a smart ass or something. But Aaron seemed genuinely pleased at Maddie's statement. "You'll have to bring him over to dinner sometime," he continued and laughed. Looking at Daryl directly he said, "she's not the only good cook around here," he teased and tipped his head at Maddie.

Maddie stuck her tongue out and giggled. "Well, best be on my way to the salt mine," she said as she pulled Daryl with her back toward the street. Aaron waved goodbye as they started back toward the bakery. After a few minutes of silence, Daryl looked over at her.

"You like him?" he asked. Maddie knew he was really asking if she trusted Aaron. She nodded and squeezed his hand again.

"Yes, very much so. He and Eric were so kind and helpful with Marshall, and have really been there for me since he passed." She paused thoughtfully. "I want them to come with us when we leave," she continued. "Marshall thought they were good people-kind hearted, but not the best at defending themselves if there was a really bad situation. He talked to me about asking them to help us with the get away stash, but before he could talk to them he got real bad. I decided to wait before I said anything. I guess I was just trying to work up my nerve in case they tried to talk me out of it." Daryl nodded.

"Do you think they would tell on us?" he asked.

"No, I don't think they would. As long as we didn't cause a commotion or ruin things for anyone who wants to stay, I think they would keep their mouths shut and act dumb about it. At least that's what I hope would happen."

They turned right onto Poplar Street and he saw this was like a main shopping street. There was some kind of clothes store, what looked like a diner, a small grocery and then the bakery. It was a tiny building wedged between two larger shops. There was one large plate glass window to the right of the door. There was no display shelves or anything inside by the window. Maddie opened the door and they stepped inside the small lobby area. There was one glass bakery case and a small table beside it where he guessed she wrote orders or bagged pastry for customers. He turned and looked back at the door.

"You didn't lock it up?" he was frowning slightly.

She shook her head. "No. Nobody locks anything up here except the guns and the food supplies. I go every morning to get the supplies I need for any orders I have, and that's a block over. But everything else is left unlocked." Daryl shook his head. "Well, no one has any money. Nothing of value really. They emphasize that we're all safe here, and that means everyone should feel comfortable sleeping with their doors unlocked." Daryl grumbled at that. Maddie laughed and nodded. "Yeah, Marshall said that was bullshit. He locked our bedroom and at first pushed something in front of it just in case. He said folks were murdered back in the day when everyone slept with their doors unlocked. He said safety has always been an illusion and that he had never indulged in it before so he sure wasn't doing so now with all the evil out wandering the roads. He said he didn't think no matter how thick any walls were that he'd ever feel truly safe again." Daryl nodded in agreement to that. He followed her into the back area where there were two double ovens, a sink and a cabinet scattered with mixing bowls and measuring cups and that type of stuff. There was a heavy metal door to the left of the cabinet. Maddie opened it and turning to him handed him a brick. "Can you go prop the front door open? It gets stuffy in here and if both doors are open I get a pretty good breeze most days." Daryl took the brick and went and propped the door open. When she propped the back door open he noticed a slight breeze started up right away. He imagined it probably did get pretty stuffy in here once she got the ovens hot. He'd have to find something to cover up the front window a little to cut down the light and heat coming through.

As he walked slowly around the room, mentally inventorying things he needed to get her to make her more comfortable in here. Maddie pulled a notebook over and scanned the page and then tore a page out and began writing a list.

He walked over to her and looking over her shoulder he saw she was writing a list of ingredients. "Want me to go with you to help you carry that stuff?" he whispered in her ear. His breath on her neck made her jerk a little and she tightened her grip on the pencil she held. He smirked at her reaction. She put her hand on his arm and shoved him a little toward the lobby.

"No sir. If you stay here around me I will burn the damn place down because I won't be paying any attention to what I'm doing. You get outta here and let me alone for a bit." She laughed at the look on his face. "Go on now, find some trouble to get into. And I'm not staying late to make up my time because after all I am the boss. So you've got until 3 to get into trouble until you come back and walk me home." He brightened at her use of the word home. He leaned over and tried to kiss her mouth, but she stuck her hand in front of his face and pinched his nose playfully. "Don't try to distract me buster," she said with a mock scowl on her face, but she couldn't hold it and burst out laughing again. Then she threw her arms around his neck and planted her plummy lips on his quickly. She let go and turned him around toward the door with a slight shove to his ass. "Go on now, lover. You can pay me back for all this neglect later tonight." She waved him off as he frowned at her.

Stopping at the doorway he called back to her in his gruffest voice, "Yeah, well you said it girlie. I aim to make you pay for this poor treatment for a fact." She blew him a kiss and he shook his head and walked out the door whistling. Maddie finished her list and headed off to the supply center.

As Daryl made his way back he suddenly realized he was whistling. What the hell? He never did that-not since he was young and Merle had told him he couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, better not quit his day job one day when he'd been whistling some stupid song he'd heard on the radio. After that he'd been too embarrassed to whistle or sing in front of anyone. Occasionally when he'd been alone out in the woods he'd whistle a bit, if he'd had a good day hunting. But now here he was, walking down the street in broad daylight whistling like some lovestruck idiot. He shook his head in disbelief. Good Lord, he'd just seen her yesterday-hadn't even been twenty-four hours and here he was acting like some dumbass high school kid. He sighed. If this is how those kids back in high school had felt, he understood why now they had always looked so happy and he felt a pang of regret that feeling this good had been out of his grasp until now. Straightening up and picking up his stride, he vowed to himself that he would try his damnedest to not take this happiness for granted no matter what came their way.

As he passed by Aaron's house he saw Aaron was still on the porch. He waved his hand to wave and Aaron motioned to him to come over. He groaned internally. He wanted time alone to think about Maddie. But since Maddie seemed to be friendly with Aaron, he tried not to scowl and walked over to the porch stairs. He looked up and nodded. "Hey," he tried not to sound too cross.

Aaron nodded back at him. "Hi again Daryl. Listen, I know this is sudden but I wondered if you could take a look at something for me." He came down the steps toward Daryl and Daryl took a step back, raising his eyebrow in question. "Follow me over here to the garage," Aaron said over his shoulder as he led the way to the garage. He opened the door slowly and peering in Daryl saw tables with all kinds of –what? Looked like bike parts, car parts? He couldn't tell. He stepped into the garage after Aaron and looked around. There was something under a sheet, maybe a bike? He looked over at Aaron and Aaron spread his hands out. "I found an old bike and then started scavenging for parts whenever I was out on runs," he explained. He pulled the sheet off and revealed a bike-or what could be a bike if someone who knew what they were doing restored it. Daryl gauged the level of disrepair of the bike and looked over the two tables full of parts.

"Mmmm, ya got enough here for nearly two bikes," he murmured as he continued to look around at the parts.

Aaron nodded. "Yes, I want to eventually have two complete bikes. I need to find another one that's not in as bad a shape as that one there." Daryl nodded and stood holding a headlight, turning it over in his hands.

"Why'd you get all this if you didn't know how to build it?" he asked, his mind already turning over the possibilities of the bike.

"I was hoping someone here would have worked on cars or bikes back in the day," Aaron explained. "No one I met was interested."

Daryl snorted in disgust and kicked one of the tables with his boot. "yeah well that don't surprise me. I only been here a couple days and I can see that the folks round here weren't ever the type to drink a beer under the shade tree and fuck around with some old car or bike." He shrugged. "Yeah, I'll help ya. Ain't got nothin' else to do right now." Aaron nodded.

"Daryl, I asked Deana not to give you a job," he started. Daryl half growled.

"What the fuck ya do that for?' he snarled. He slammed the headlight on the table and started to turn around and walk out of the garage.

"Wait, I had a reason," Aaron said quickly. Daryl stopped and turned back. "I told Deana that I wanted you to start going out on recruitments with me."

Daryl raised his eyebrow. "What?" he answered, confused.

"Look, you know your stuff. You seem to have an instinct for people, you know how to survive. Your group told Deana you had been the main reason they had survived out there. It was a group effort, but you were the one who took the most risks in going out and canvassing areas, clearing the prison, everything." Daryl shook his head in disagreement. "It's true," Aaron insisted. "You may not realize it, but you're very important to your friends." Daryl snorted at the word friends in embarrassment. "Yes, they are your friends. You've all been through some really tough times together, lost family members and mourned them together. What you have now is stronger than any family blood tie. And I value that. I think you could help us find the right people to join us here, and more importantly find the bad people before they find us." Daryl looked at Aaron, searching his face for the truth. At last he nodded. He didn't believe all that Aaron had said, all that crap about what the others supposedly had said about him-but if he and Maddie were going to plan an escape route in case of trouble this would give him the perfect excuse for going out and canvassing the area as well as adding more supplies to their hiding place.

"Aight," he said. "When ya wanna start?"

Aaron smiled in relief. "We can wait a few days. Let you and Maddie catch up some." Daryl looked at him sharply, thinking he was being a smartass. Aaron held his palms up. "No, I'm not being a jerk. Eric and I honestly like Maddie. And we were very upset when Marshall passed away. I'm genuinely glad you two have found each other again-she needed someone." When Daryl shook his head, Aaron continued. "Daryl, even the strongest person needs someone they can unburden themselves to and can trust completely. I hope you and Maddie can be that for each other. She's a remarkable girl."

Daryl nodded and started looking at the parts on the tables in embarrassment. He'd never had any praise heaped on him like he'd had the last few days. Hell, his folks and Merle had made a point of telling him what a loser he was and that no one in their right mind would want to have him around unless he could be useful to them in some way. Even his mother had treated him like he was a burden. When his pa had gotten drunk and beat on him after wearing his ma out, she had never put a hand out to stop it. Afterwards, when he'd be laying in the bed trying not to cry at the stinging of his back she would creep in and pat him on the head and tell him that it had been his fault-he knew better than to upset his old man when he'd be drinking. No sympathy or comfort from her, ever. After a short while he learned not to expect it from anyone. And the older he got he found ways to make himself stronger so that when the old man did try to hit him he could deflect the blows until he could get out the door and escape. He spent many a cold wet night out in the woods waiting until his father passed out to avoid getting hit. After his mother died –burnt herself and the house up smoking one night when she was drunk-his father's drunken rages happened more often and were more violent. At fifteen Daryl had left home permanently, after his father had pointed a shotgun at him one night and told him he was a mistake, no one had wanted him and they would all have been better off if he had never been born. Daryl hadn't thought his father could hurt him any worse than he already had, but that night had proved him wrong. He had packed what little clothes he had while his father drunkenly waved the gun at him, threatening to kill him if he didn't get out of the damn house. He had spent the night in the woods, his chest burning with the pain of what was left of his heart breaking completely. He never went back home. When Merle got out of jail a few months later, he didn't even bother to look for Daryl. By then Daryl was working on cars and bikes in a shitty garage owned by some other trash on the bad side of town. His pay was a place to sleep out of the weather and a few meals a week. Sometimes if they had a busy week he might get a little money. He slept in the back office of the shop on a cot and because they wore uniforms –such as they were-he was able to keep what few clothes he had from turning into rags from constant wear. The owner's wife seemed to feel sorry for him, and so she let him use their mudroom shower a couple of times a week. Otherwise he rinsed off in the station bathroom sink.

Eventually Merle had sought him out and would come by some nights to torment him and try to bully him into going with him to collect money for meth or some other shit he would be dealing. He thought Daryl had muscled up enough by now he could use him as "muscle" in case there was any trouble. Daryl would buckle under and do what his brother told him most of the time. He felt that as bad as his luck had ever been, he had never been with Merle when he got caught by the cops and arrested for the stupid shit he was always doing. His had drifted along like that for years. He eventually worked in a slightly better shop where he made enough money to get a tiny apartment in the crappier part of town. It was basically one small room with a tiny kitchen and even tinier bathroom-but it was his. He had no furniture, so slept on the floor on a sleeping bag until he found an old sofabed on someone's treelawn for the garbage. He had a beater truck by then, if he hadn't been a mechanic he would never have kept it running. He hauled the sofa back to the apartment after inspecting it to make sure no rodents or bugs were in it. Every once in a while Merle would come banging on the door with some drunk slut he wanted to fuck, and would bully Daryl into letting them use the couch while Daryl sat outside and smoked. Sometimes they would pass out and Daryl would be outside in the weather all night, disgusted with himself that once again he had caved in to his brother.

By the time he'd met Maddie, he had a slightly better apartment with a real bed and when Merle crashed overnight he made him sleep on the old sofabed. That had been his life when Maddie had walked into it-or rather, into Marshall's life. He knew that a girl like Maddie would never have given him the time of day before the world went to shit no matter that her boyfriend had been Marshall, a kind of friend of his and Merle's. No, he knew that once Marshall died she would have left that town and gone back up to Michigan where her family was and he would never have seen her again. She would've gone back to the country clubs and dinner parties and all that shit she had hated. She wouldn't have been happy, he didn't believe, but she would have gone back to what she knew instead of staying in the crappy little farm town by herself. He sighed a little sadly. It was pathetic that the only reason he'd gotten to be with a girl like Maddie was because the world had gone to Hell.


	11. Chapter 11

Maddie tapped her little foot on the driveway and cleared her throat. Daryl jumped and looked around toward her. "Oh shit, Maddie. I didn't even think about the time. I'm sorry I forgot to come walk you home." He started biting his thumb without thinking about it. Maddie walked over and pulled his thumb away from his teeth and reached up and kissed him lightly on the lips.

"I forgive you. I see Aaron has shown you his project. I had hoped he'd find someone who could help him with it. I'm glad he asked you-that's what happened right?" Daryl nodded sheepishly and pulled her closer and kissed her on the cheek.

"Yeah, guess I got lost looking at the parts and trying to figure out how to piece the thing back together." She laughed and brushed his hair out of his eyes. She was going to have to trim it just a bit, he had such beautiful eyes and his hair got in the way of her seeing them.

"Well, I'll forgive you if you promise me that once you get it together and running you'll give me a ride. Ya know, you never did give me a ride on that bike you and Merle had," and she frowned playfully at him.

"Hunh? You didn't never ask for any ride on that bike" he scoffed back at her at the same time pulling her hair slightly. "If ya had, I would definitely have given ya one." He kissed her back on the lips, lingering this time. She smelled of warm bread and cookies and her breath was sweet as if she'd been sampling her baking.

"I bet. But I'm asking now, so don't forget or pretend that I didn't ask. I'm holding you to it buster." She nipped his lip with her teeth.

He laughed and pulled back a bit. "Easy there now, girl. Didn't know you were a biter."

She winked at him and giggled. "hmmmm, well there's a lot about me that you don't know buster. I'm just full of surprises" she whispered throatily against his mouth and then kissed him again, this time slipping her tongue into his mouth and then pulling back suddenly, teasing him. He gazed at her, his eyes narrowing slightly and his tongue licking his suddenly parched lips. He could feel himself harden rapidly in his jeans and shifted somewhat in embarrassment. He didn't want anyone to see him walking around with a hard on. She pulled away and slowly looked him up and down, and he could see her nipples had hardened against the thin fabric of the tshirt. Thank God she had worn a bra, otherwise he would've ripped her shirt right off her here in the garage and buried his face in her neck and chest. At that thought he shifted uncomfortably yet again as his cock hardened even more. As he looked at her, she batted her eyes at him and put a hand on her cheek in mock dismay. "oh my," she murmured throatily, "looks like we need to go right home and take care of something before dinner." He felt his throat go dry at that and couldn't do more than nod his head. He felt weak in the knees and wondered idly if he could make it back to the house and down the stairs to the basement without tripping or stumbling.

Maddie pushed him out onto the driveway, turned and closed the garage door and looked over at him. "Race ya," she yelled and took off across the lawn toward the house. Daryl growled and started off after her, making sure not to trip himself and fall on someone's lawn.

She made it to the house ahead of him and raced inside and through the living room and kitchen and down the stairs. Rick and Michonne were with Carl and Judith in the living area, and gazed in bewilderment after her. They turned as Daryl came pounding up the porch steps and skidded to a stop in the foyer. Embarrassment washed over his face as they looked at him questioningly.

"Um," he mumbled, "um, she forgot something," and he walked quickly into the kitchen and then they heard his steps pounding down the stairs.

Carl looked at Rick and Michonne. "Should we go check on them?"

Michonne looked at Rick and they both started snickering. "Um, no son. I think they're just fine," Rick could hardly talk he was trying not to laugh out loud.

"But she came running in like that and he was running after her," Carl insisted.

Michonne shook her head at Carl. "Yes, but I think they were playing around."

Carl frowned. "Playing around? Daryl?"

Rick nodded and finally just laughed out loud, more in relief than anything. Michonne wiped a tear from her cheek, she hadn't laughed like this in a long time. She too felt a wave of relief wash over her.

"Carl, I think we're going to see Daryl doing a lot of unusual things from here on out," she explained, "I think he really likes Maddie and that he's happy. And I hope he can hold onto that." She smiled at Carl and he nodded.

"Yeah, I get it. Like if I found some guys my age and could finally talk and hang out with someone my age." He nodded again. Michonne patted his shoulder and smiled wider.

"I think you're right Carl. He has someone to hang out with and talk to and that's always a good thing." Rick looked sideways at her, thinking. Michonne needed someone to hang out with and talk to as well. He had thought maybe she and Sasha could be friends, but he feared Sasha was lost to anyone at this point. The strain of losing both Bob and Tyreese, especially the way it had happened, was evidently too much for her. He hoped he was wrong, but he didn't think so. He decided to keep a close eye on her to prevent any more tragedy from diminishing the size of their group.

Chapter 13

Downstairs Daryl looked quickly around the pool room and not seeing Maddie he ran over to the bedroom. There she lay on the bed, completely naked, curled up on her side. Daryl slammed the bedroom door shut and kicked his boots off. He groaned in frustration as he tried to unzip his jeans and shuck them off quickly. He hesitated and then pulled his shirt off too. He had to trust her, and be honest with her and that meant showing her everything, no matter how shameful or humiliating. She licked her lips and winked at him. He slid in beside her and pulled her close to him.

"c'mere you little tease," he growled against her throat. She sighed and stretched her full length against him and stretched her arms above her head.

"I'm all yours baby. Use me and abuse me," she murmured. He leaned over her and quickly grabbed her wrists in both his hands, holding her still. With his knee he pushed her legs open and then reaching down with one hand he positioned himself and plunged himself into her. Maddie arched up against him and wrapped her legs around his waist. "Oh God," she breathed. They started to move together and he ran his free hand over her breasts as he kissed her neck. "oh," she gasped, trying to pull her wrists from his hand.

"No, no," he murmured against her skin. His tongue flicked at her nipple. They were both as hard as stones and every time he kissed or sucked or licked her breasts she moaned louder. She struggled briefly to pull her hands away again and he tightened his grip. He plunged into her as deeply as he could and she gave a little gasp. "Does that feel good? Tell me, I need you to tell me so I can make you come," he whispered against her neck. She rolled her head from side to side, her eyes squeezed shut and bit her lip. "C'mon, Maddie, tell me. What do you want me to do for you?" he pulled himself almost out of her and then plunged back into her. He felt her insides contract and she tightened her legs around him. He caressed her cheek with his free hand. "C'mon baby," he whispered, "Tell me. Tell me," before he could finish she gave a short cry and he let go of her wrists and grabbed both her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. He tried to slow down but her bucking hips wouldn't let him and in a minute he had followed her in coming. He felt as if he'd poured a gallon of cum into her and again felt lightheaded. He clutched her to him and fell over on his back pulling her to his side. He ran his hand through her hair and kissed her. "Jesus," he breathed.

"No, just Maddie," she whispered and laughed softly. He snorted. He looked at her quietly.

"Um, I don't want to sound stupid, but do you always…..i mean…..um…do you.." he broke off in embarrassment. She raised herself up on one elbow and looked at him questioningly. Then she smiled.

"I have always enjoyed sex," she whispered, " but I have never in my life felt the way I do with you with anyone else." She smiled. He frowned and put his hand on her cheek.

"Not even….," he started.

She shook her head. "No, not even with Marshall. Our sex life was fantastic, Marshall was a great lover-but with you…" she paused in thought and he watched her in fascination. "Daryl, with you it's like you know what I want before I do. Where you touch me, how you touch me. It's almost like you can read my mind." He nodded.

"Maybe it's not your mind I'm reading but your body," he murmured. At her look he continued, "That's part of being a good hunter. Watching and learning what your prey is doing and how they behave. That's what makes a good tracker too-watching and then anticipating where an animal is going to turn or rest." He looked back up at her and smiled.

"So, I'm your prey now? You've caught me?" she teased. He laughed a small rueful laugh.

"Girl, I think we're both caught. And I'm in no hurry to escape." She laughed and kissed him on his cheek.

"I know just what you mean," she whispered. She lay her head down on his chest and in a short while he heard her breathing slide into the sound of sleeping. He held her and ran his hand up and down her arm across his chest. No, he was definitely not in any hurry to escape. He sighed contentedly and soon he was asleep as well.

Chapter 14

Daryl and Maddie started at the sound of knocking on the bedroom door. Daryl rubbed his hand over his face and cleared his throat.

"What?" he called.

"Hey, it's Rick. I wondered if I could talk to you a minute. Sorry for bothering you."

Daryl looked over at Maddie, who had sat up clutching the sheet to her chest. She nodded at him.

"Yeah, sure. Hang on just a minute," he called out.

"Not a problem," Rick answered. "I'll be out on the porch waiting."

Daryl and Maddie looked at each other. "I'll be back in a few minutes," he told her, swinging his legs out of the bed and bending down to retrieve his jeans. He knew in the dim light of the room Maddie wouldn't be able to see the scars on his back clearly-even so he turned quickly so his back was away from her and quickly pulled on a shirt.

"No, I'll go with you. We need to at least talk to Rick about the stuff I told you earlier." Maddie hopped out of the bed and retrieved her scattered clothes and yanked them on before Daryl could utter a protest.

"Aight," he murmured. He grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the door and across the room to the stairs up to the kitchen. He stopped briefly and kissed her forehead, then turned and ran up the stairs ahead of her.

Rick was sitting in a chair on the porch by himself. As they passed the living room they saw most of their group sitting in their talking heatedly about something.

Daryl and Maddie leaned against the porch railing facing Rick. Daryl crossed his arms over his chest and jerked his chin at Rick. "Well?" he mumbled.

Rick nodded at both of them. "Well, Deanna came over here a little bit ago and invited us all to a little welcoming thing at her house tomorrow night."

Daryl groaned. "Christ," he mumbled.

"Yeah," Rick nodded, "she kinda in a nice way insisted we all show up so we can meet everybody else."

Daryl sighed. "And if I don't go?"

Maddie patted his arm and nodded at Rick. "We're going."

Daryl looked down at her sharply. "Ya know I don't do that kinda shit."

Rick watched Maddie and Daryl closely, keeping his mouth shut. He may have been the defacto leader of their group, but he had a feeling that his opinions were going to be overridden on some subjects by this young girl. It impressed him-she must have been very important to Daryl for her to have this much influence over him in such a short amount of time. And if that were true, then Rick knew she would be an asset to their group. He had learned to trust Daryl's instincts about people.

"Yes, I know you don't do that shit Daryl. But we need to blend in and not draw attention to ourselves."

Daryl snorted. "Well you forgot about that yesterday when you told those girls off" he laughed.

Maddie turned red and rolled her eyes. "Yes, okay, you're right. Now hush." She play slapped his arm.

"Hey, what are you talking about-having to blend in?" Rick asked, instantly alert.

Daryl looked at Rick, a serious look on his face. "We need to talk to you. Privately."

Maddie nodded. "And not anywhere near the house either," she added.

Rick frowned. "Why?"

Maddie looked at Daryl and he nodded. "Come for a walk with us over there to the park for a minute," she answered.

Rick hesitated a minute, then nodded in agreement. He stood up and followed them down the stairs and across the street toward a little green space that looked like a vacant lot that had been kept cleared up.

Rick nodded again to Daryl and Maddie. After looking at Daryl again, Maddie proceeded to repeat what she had told Daryl earlier.

Chapter 15

That evening Rick took both Carol and Michonne over to the park and relayed the information Maddie had told him. Daryl had grudgingly agreed to sit in the living room with Maddie and play cards with some of the others as a distraction so Rick could fill Carol and Michonne in. He didn't really mind playing cards with the others, but he felt awkward even more so than usual now that they had seen him holding hands and all that crap with Maddie. So he snapped and snarled and mumbled as he had always done, not knowing he wasn't fooling anyone. They politely pretended to believe his act though, and occasionally winked conspiratorially at Maddie when they caught her eye. She winked back and kept quiet when he was gruff with her. She couldn't bear the thought of hurting his pride, and since everyone here realized what was going on she found his snapping at her didn't upset her.

After about an hour, Rick and Carol and Michonne came back in and Rick nodded at Daryl and Maddie. They played the last round out and then stood up and stretched, yawning.

"Gosh Daryl, you seem to be awfully tired the last day or two," Glen smirked. He had been teased mercilessly by Daryl when he and Maggie had first started up and he intended on paying Daryl back a least a little for that.

Daryl's face turned red and seeing he was about to snap at Glen for real, Maddie placed a hand on his arm placatingly and turning to Glen stuck her tongue out and winked. Glen laughed and refrained from saying anything further. Daryl grunted and turned and headed toward the basement stairs. Maddie waved at all of them and hurried after him. Rick was waiting for them downstairs with a pad and pen. He had written on the paper that Carol and Michonne agreed they should all stay alert to everything around them and to definitely start stockpiling an emergency stash of weapons outside just in case. Daryl and Maddie read it and nodded in agreement. Rick then wrote that the welcome party would start at 6 pm tomorrow evening and he hoped they wouldn't change their mind about attending. Daryl snorted and rubbed his hands over his face in irritation. Maddie nodded to Rick that they would indeed attend and then took the paper and tore it into small pieced and motioned that they would burn it in the bedroom. Rick nodded and headed back up the stairs.

Daryl sighed and headed to the bedroom, followed by Maddie. He closed and locked the door behind them. "Jesus," he sighed in exasperation. He sat on the edge of the bed and pulled Maddie close to him and kissed her forehead.

"Don't worry," Maddie murmured as she kissed him softly on the lips. "You have me with you now. You don't have to do everything alone anymore." He sighed again and kissed her more deeply. He quickly pulled her up onto the bed beside him and laid her back against the pillows. He rolled over to his side and propping his head on his elbow he reached out with his other hand and traced her cheek with a finger.

"I wish we could just stay in here and never go out again," he whispered.

Maddie pulled him down onto his back and moved closer to him so she could lay her head on his shoulder.

"I know you do. I do too. But I think this is how it's going to be the rest of our lives. We'll never be able to completely relax and feel safe."

Daryl nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I know. I'm just fucking tired of all of it. Seems like my entire life has been one thing or another. I just want….I don't know…"

Maddie pulled his hand into his and squeezed it. "I know," she agreed. "Hopefully sometime soon we can relax a bit more than we can now." She pulled him to her and kissed him softly but deeply. She felt his body respond as he rolled back over on his side and ran his hand through her curls. She pulled her shirt up and he helped her remove it. She sighed. They each seemed to understand that this was the calm before yet another storm, and so they took advantage of the moment to reassure themselves that they were truly together at last.

Chapter 16

Daryl stood under the stream of hot water in the shower. He still couldn't believe their good luck in finding a place with hot water, and plenty of it. As he let the water run over him, he thought about he and Maddie's talk with Rick yesterday. Thankfully Rick had taken them seriously, and it seemed Michonne and Carol did too. That was a start. He wasn't sure if Maggie and Glen would be so quick to join in their plan. Maggie seemed like she really liked it here, and Glen usually gave in to her despite any misgivings he may have had. He was concerned about Sasha-she had been through a lot and didn't seem to be handling it very well. Not that he had any room to talk-if Maddie hadn't shown up he was sure he would've ended up alone back on the outside. He sighed. As for Abraham and Rosita and Tara and Eugene-well, they had been helpful when push came to shove, but he still deeply resented Eugene for lying to all of them. He didn't trust him, never would again. If he was left behind when the group set out again over the wall, he would really be relieved. One less thing to worry about.

He started as the shower door opened and Maddie stepped in. He quickly turned his back to the wall and faced her.

"Didn't mean to startle you. I thought I made enough noise before I stepped in so you wouldn't be surprised," she said as she stepped closer to him to get under the stream of water.

Daryl shook his head. "Guess I was preoccupied. Thinking about," and here he paused. He mimed writing on a piece of paper and whispered "Rick".

Maddie nodded in understanding. "Turn around and I'll wash your back for ya," she said, grabbing the bar of soap and a washcloth she had left in there.

Daryl shook his head. "Naw, ya don't have ta do that. I was just about to get out." He inched toward the door.

Maddie put her hand on his arm. "Daryl. It's alright. I know. I've seen your back. It's me. You don't have to worry about me judging you."

His lips tightened into a thin line and she could see he was tensing up, embarrassed and ashamed. She leaned fully into his chest and put her hands on his cheeks, making him look her directly in the face.

"I love you. That's in the past. Everyone has scars and wounds from their past. Just some folks have the scars where anyone can see them. " He nodded tensely. "At this point we've all been through hell of one kind or another and so we all have some kind of scars from loss and pain. Those scars are no different except they were put there by someone who was supposed to love and protect you. And that is nothing for you to feel shame for-you should be proud that you survived that and are a better person than the one who did that to you. Those scars don't mark you as a victim, they mark you as a survivor." She kissed him gently on the cheek. "I won't push you to do anything you aren't comfortable with. I just want you to know that what is on your back doesn't change how I feel about you or who I think you are."

Daryl absorbed her words silently. He nodded and turned slowly so that his back was to her. Maddie slowly began to lather up his back and rub the washcloth across it. Daryl stretched his arms to brace himself against the wall and leaned his head on his arm. As Maddie rubbed the washcloth across his back she softly kissed each scar and murmured little soothing phrases like you would to a child who had been scared or hurt. After a few of these kisses, Daryl realized the water from the shower was mixing with tears that were silently rolling down his cheeks. He bent his head and sobbed silently, his chest so tight it hurt to breathe. Maddie continued to rub his back, kissing and murmuring until she saw his shoulders relax and heard his breathing become more even.

"I think you're all clean buster. And the water is starting to get cool. We best get outta here and dry off. Don't want to be caught running out all the hot water –they might throw me back out as a bad influence on you and general hot water hog." She turned to step out and Daryl caught her by the wrist and pulled her to him. Turning off the water he stood there and held her to him tightly.

"Thank you," he whispered hoarsely. He kissed the top of her head and sighed.

"No thanks needed. I'm only telling you the truth. And you know I only ever speak the truth."

Daryl snorted and yanked gently on her hair. "I don't know if I'd go that far, but I'll let that go for now." He laughed softly. "Are you gonna dry me off too?" He smirked as he stepped out of the shower.

Maddie stuck her tongue out at him and shook her head. "No sir, you've been pampered enough today. I can't have you getting too spoiled too soon."

Daryl flicked his towel at her hip and she hopped out of the way and squealed. "Hmmmm. Spoiled hunh? I think you're slipping girl. Washing my back isn't my idea of being pampered." He smiled at her and she stuck her tongue out at him, wrapping her towel around her. "Careful there, girlie. Stick that out again and I'll find a use for it." He turned pink in surprise at himself for having said that. Since when in the hell did he flirt with any woman?

Maddie laughed and stuck her tongue out at him again teasingly. "I'd like to see you try," she whispered with a throaty laugh.

Before Daryl could make any reply, they heard a knock at the bedroom door. Daryl groaned in frustration and snapped, "What? What is it?" Maddie leaned against his chest and clapped her hand over her mouth, laughing loudly.

"It's Carol. We made breakfast and some of us are going to go look for some clothes to wear tonight. We thought Maddie might want to come with us."

Daryl rubbed his face with his hand and groaned again. Were they ever going to be left alone in peace?

"Hey, Carol, that sounds great," Maddie called out. "Give me just a minute and I'll be up in the kitchen."

"Okay. No rush," Carol called back through the door. Daryl let out another sigh.

"Oh now, don't be fussy," Maddie trilled at him sweetly. "You'll have plenty of time later tonight to show me how to use my tongue." And before he could stop her she ran into the bedroom and started pulling on her clothes. Daryl just stood in the bathroom, his towel wrapped around his waist, shaking his head in bemusement at her. As he watched, she blew him a kiss and headed out the bedroom door towards the stairs. That girl was definitely going to keep him on his toes, he thought ruefully. He stretched lazily and started into the bedroom to get dressed and head upstairs. He was sure he could find something to do to pass the time before he went to that damn party.

Chapter 17

Maddie, Carol, Maggie, Tara, Rosita and Michonne walked toward the main business street of the town, where Maddie's bakery was located. They hadn't been able to persuade Sasha to join them, and Michonne and Carol had exchanged worried glances over that. They would definitely have to keep an eye on her.

They chatted excitedly about the novelty of getting some decent clothes to wear finally and doing something that resembled their normal lives before like going shopping and then to a party later this evening. Maddie fit in seamlessly with their group-she and Maggie seemed to especially hit it off as they were close in age. It helped that Maddie was not much older than Beth had been and Maggie missed Beth terribly. She quickly adopted an older sister attitude with Maddie, and Maddie was glad for the sisterly attention. Daryl had filled her in a bit about the members of his group and the various losses they had each suffered. Maddie regarded Carol as a motherly type-she had seen how Carol had made sure to make her feel at home and she noticed Carol seemed especially gentle in her dealings with Daryl. She felt a little guilty, as she sensed maybe Carol had perhaps had more feelings for Daryl as a more than sisterly or motherly relationship, but she didn't feel Daryl had in any way led Carol on. And she didn't feel guilty enough to stand aside and let the two work things out. She had never been the retiring type, she sure wasn't going to start now. She wasn't going to let anyone get in the way of her and Daryl being together.

They had a choice of three shops to explore and they all stuck together as they entered the first one. Maddie explained to them quickly where the clothes had come from and what type of selections they would find in each shop. She watched Michonne and Tara and Rosita as they surveyed the racks with looks of bemusement. Most of the clothes were the type Maddie's friends and their moms had worn back at home-sweater sets, pastels, dress slacks, flats. She was surprised they hadn't had pearl sets to accessorize with. Carol and Maggie immediately started oohing and ahhing over their finds.

"C'mon girls," Maddie said to the other three, "I think I know a place where you might find something more fitting to your personalities." They turned and followed her out the door and down to the last shop on the left. "These are more the type of clothes I'd wear," she explained, "after I saw the stuff they were handing out for everyone to wear I informed them some folks didn't want to live in Stepford." Michonne snorted and Rosita and Tara smiled.

"So where did these clothes come from?" Tara asked.

"I don't know, I just told Aaron and Eric that on their scavenging runs if they ran across any places that sold regular everyday clothes like jeans and tshirts and that kind of stuff to grab it and bring it back."

Michonne and the other two girls nodded and murmured in agreement. They followed Maddie into the store and laughed in relief. There were shelves of jeans, camo pants, cargo pants, some jean skirts and then tshirts as well as shirts that were slightly dressier but could have easily been out barhopping or to the park. The women wandered around the aisles quickly picking out a few outfits each. Maddie showed them an area stocked with boots, tennis shoes, flip flops and sandals as well as a couple of pairs of nicer women's boots.

While they were looking, Carol and Maggie wandered in, each carrying a couple of bags with them. They wrinkled their noses slightly at the jeans and tshirts.

"I am so tired of looking grubby," Maggie said to Maddie. "I mean, I grew up on a farm and I'm used to wearing jeans and tshirts but after two years of that it's nice to think I can sometimes put a dress on or at least something a little nicer than old jeans." Carol nodded in agreement.

Maddie shrugged and smiled. "I know what you mean. Seems the very things that annoyed me before are the things I miss now." Maggie and Carol nodded. Michonne, Tara and Rosita came up to them with their bags and they all headed back out the door.

"Have y'all had a real tour of the town yet?' Maddie asked them.

"No," they each murmured.

"Well let's walk around a little and I'll show you where everything is," Maddie replied and they followed her back up the street.

Chapter 18

Later that afternoon, Maddie spread some clothes out on the bed that she had gotten for Daryl while she was out. Just another couple of pairs of jeans and some plain but well made pull over shirts-nothing that he would feel uncomfortable in. She had also found him a pair of work boots she thought might fit him as she had noticed his were pretty worn out. She had also found herself a small sleevless black sheath dress and some black pumps to go with it. After showing her ass the other day when she'd moved out she felt an urge to show those snotty girls just how well she could clean up.

Daryl walked in and looked at the clothes on the bed. "Guess y'alls shoppin' trip went well, hunh?"

Maddie turned and held the dress up against her. "And it didn't cost you a penny, bud," she teased.

Daryl laughed and then whistled. "Damn girl, that's what you're wearing? If you put that on we may not make it to the party." He gazed at her, his eyes smoldering.

Maddie blushed and laughed back at him. "Oh no you don't. You're not getting out of this. But I promise you we won't stay long." She waved the dress at him and flung it on the bed. She picked up a blue shirt and raised her eyebrow questioningly. "Is this okay? I thought you might want something a bit dressier than a t-shirt but still something you can wear everyday too." He crossed the room to her and held the shirt up. He liked it, but even though it was nothing fancy it was still much nicer than what he was used to wearing.

"Mmmm," he grunted. "S'okay I guess." Maddie knew that was all he was going to say on the subject. He was not the type of guy interested in clothes except as a necessity when going out in public. And honestly although she'd never seen him in anything other than grubby old thermals, flannels and tshirts and worn jeans she had just accepted that wardrobe as something like his second skin. He was most comfortable in plain clothes that didn't draw attention to himself. Marshall had pretty much been the same way and she had grown used to it and actually appreciated their lack of pretension and lack of need to peacock around like the boys she'd grown up with had often done. It meant a freedom for her from maintaining a tan, wearing shoes that pinched her feet, dresses or outfits she couldn't move comfortably in and always being anxious if her hair and makeup looked right. She couldn't remember the last time she'd worn lipstick or perfume-obviously not in the last year or so, but even before then when she'd moved in with Marshall she had quickly stopped all of that primping and obsessing over her appearance. It felt like she'd finally taken off an ill fitting mask and was able to breathe and finally behave naturally.

They dressed quietly, each preoccupied with their thoughts about the coming evening. Daryl was anxious and tense-he didn't like going around people he didn't know and resented having to do so now. The only parties he'd ever been to had been beer and drug infused get togethers at one of his brother Merle's friends'-if that's what you could call them- shitty apartments or houses. It was usually hours of watching everyone get trashed and eventually start fighting over some imagined insult or some argument erupting between two guys over some girl that neither would've looked twice at sober or straight. He didn't want to embarrass Maddie or himself by doing something awkward or stupid. He knew he was not drinking any alcohol, no sense in tempting fate.

Maddie worried about Daryl. She knew he was nervous but also knew he would just have to grit his teeth and get through it. It was important that they all looked like they were fitting in and finding their place amongst the others living in the town. If not for that, she would never have insisted on Daryl attending.

They finished dressing and looked each other over. "I look alright," Daryl mumbled uncertainly.

"Definitely. You look very handsome," Maddie replied. He looked askance at that and shook his head.

"Whatever," he answered her. He grabbed her hand and started toward the door to go up the stairs. Maddie stopped and tilted her head at him.

"Well, aren't you going to tell me whether or not I look okay?" she teased. Daryl pointed a finger at her and smirked.

"No, cuz you know damn good and well that you are the most beautiful woman in this place. We'll probly have to leave early so I don't punch some asshole for staring at you," he answered. Maddie laughed and followed him out the door and up the stairs.

They met up with everyone else in the group in the foyer and living room. Rick nodded and looked around at everyone. They had convinced Sasha to at least go for a short while, and Eugene had been ready to go before anyone else. He was determined to ingratiate himself with the rest of the town in order to find a way to undo the damage somehow that he had brought on Rick and the others.

"Everyone ready," Rick asked. The others nodded and murmured their agreement. Rick took Judith from Carol and they filed out the front door and headed down the street toward Deanna's house. As they passed Aaron's house, Daryl noticed he was sitting on his porch watching them go by.

"Hey," he whispered to Maddie, "why ain't he going?" He envied Aaron for not having to go through this crap.

"Because he's using Eric as an excuse. He said Eric's having a lot of problems getting around and he wanted to stay home and take care of him." Daryl snorted and Maddie squeezed his hand. "Eric can take care of himself, Aaron and he don't enjoy these things and they usually find some excuse to get out of going. Of course they have to put in an appearance once in a while but by and large they keep to themselves," she continued.

"Lucky guys," Daryl mumbled. He waved over at Aaron and kept walking with Maddie, as close to dragging his feet as he dared to with Maddie looking at him sharply.

As the group entered Deanna's spacious house-"Looks like she took the best place for herself," Daryl murmured to Maddie-they all spread out and wandered the rooms in surprise at the opulence there. Most of them had never had the means to afford anything close to this obviously expensive furnishings before the virus and none of them had definitely experienced anything like it in the time since. They all wondered how it was that this place, this town, had managed to escape all the worst that had happened on the outside and continue unchanged all this time since.

Deanna approached Rick and Carl and introduced Rick to her husband. As they began to talk, Maddie and Daryl moved around the large living room aimlessly looking for a corner they could take up and watch everyone from. Daryl may have caved in to attending this shindig but he was damned if he was going to walk around with a drink in his hand and make small talk with these assholes. He could feel himself bristling up at the thought of what these folks had compared to what he and his group had been through. It angered him that they seemed to take all this for granted and he was reminded again of how he's felt growing up.

Maddie squeezed his hand. "We won't stay long Daryl. Just long enough to make an appearance and then we can go back home. Maybe play some pool or something?" He glanced down at her and nodded silently. They watched Carol make her way around to some woman that looked to be around her age and saw her start making small talk and laughing. Daryl shook his head in wonder.

"What the hell?" he whispered.

"What?" Maddie whispered back.

"I ain't never seen her act like this. It's like she's one of them, wearing some stupid matching sweater shit and talking about some club or something." He shook his head in disgust.

Maddie watched Carol silently and then pulled Daryl down so she could whisper in his ear.

"She's smart. She's making them think she's as silly as they are." She tilted her head toward Carol and Daryl narrowed his eyes and watched her again.

"Hmmmm," he mumbled, "you may be right. She is a pretty smart woman. I'll be damned. It's like she's some sort of undercover spy or something." He nodded in approval and squeezed Maddie's hand.

They scanned the room for the others of their group. Glen was following Maggie around by the hand while she made little exclamations over knick knacks and lamps and pillows and all that girly shit. Daryl almost felt bad for Glen for having to put up with that. But not so bad he didn't start thinking of a way to tease Glen about it later.

Michonne wandered over to stand by them. She stared quietly back at the people in the room, lost in thought. She really wanted to believe that this was a safe place, that they could at last finally settle here and start rebuilding their lives again. But as she watched the townspeople carefully, she felt doubt creep in and start to grow. They really were soft, had no real idea of what had happened outside the wall. And that made her feel certain that this would eventually lead to carelessness about the wall and who they admitted. She caught Rick's eye as he turned from Deanna and her husband and nodded slightly. He nodded back and his gaze roamed over Michonne, Daryl and Maddie standing there together. He headed to the next room-a large dining area with food set out buffet style on the expansive table. There was a sideboard with a variety of alcohol and wine along with glasses set out. He saw Abraham pouring himself a liberal amount of whiskey-some brand that had been very expensive before the virus- and start sipping it. He frowned a little, he didn't want anyone getting drunk and belligerent here. He didn't want anyone drawing attention to them-they had to blend in and lull these people into believing they were all happy to be here and setting about to fitting in.

Rick approached Abraham and raised his eyebrow at him. "Take it easy," he murmured to Abraham.

"Hey," Abraham blustered back, "we're not out on the road anymore. You ain't the leader. We're all free to do as we please now. And I intend on drinking as much of this fine whiskey as I want tonight." He tipped his glass in a toast to Rick and downed the liquid in the glass.

Daryl snorted in disgust and shook his head as he watched from his corner. "That fuckin asshole. We shoulda never let him and that liar Eugene join up with us. They've just fucked shit up over and over," he growled. Maddie put her hand on his arm and felt the tension in him. She looked over at Michonne questioningly.

Michonne nodded reluctantly. "Yeah," she whispered, "I kinda agree with Daryl. Abraham is abrasive and always trying to challenge Rick. And Eugene, well…," she trailed off.

Maddie frowned. "What? What did Eugene do?" she asked.

Daryl growled again, a little louder but still quiet enough no one else in the room heard him.

Michonne cleared her throat. "Well, he told us that he was some kind of scientist and he needed to get to DC in order to save the world. He'd convinced Abraham and Rosita of this before they ever met us."

Maddie nodded encouragingly for Michonne to continue. "Turns out he lied. He wasn't a scientist, didn't know anyone in DC and had basically used Abraham and then us."

Here Daryl interrupted, seething. "Yeah, the asshole lied about everything. He's the reason we changed our route. He's the reason Abraham and Rick kept bumping heads. Hell he and I almost got into it a couple of times." He shook his head in disgust. "He can't defend himself, he's no help in guarding the places we've stayed. It's like having another baby along with Judith-and hell before long she'll be able to take care of herself better than he can." His face had gone red with suppressed rage and he yanked his hand from Maddie and stalked off toward the front door. Maddie turned to Michonne, who looked just as angry as Daryl had.

"Is all that true," Maddie asked her. Michonne nodded and sighed. "That's awful," Maddie whispered. Michonne nodded in agreement.

"Maybe let him cool off some out there on the porch and then go back home. When he gets like this there's no telling who he'll tell off," Michonne suggested. Maddie nodded and headed over to the door to peer out on the porch at Daryl. He stood with his back to her, standing against the rail biting his thumb savagely. She turned around and sat on a little chair just inside the doorway and sighed. No wonder he was so upset. Everyone had risked their lives to help someone who had shamelessly lied to all of them. She definitely didn't want him coming with them when they left. He would just cause tension and stress when they could least afford any distractions.

Michonne walked over toward Rick and Abraham and placed a hand on Rick's shoulder. He turned toward her and raised an eyebrow. She looked over at Abraham and gave a slight shake of her head. He understood. She was telling him that she did not trust Abraham nor did she want him included in their plans to leave. He was relieved. He didn't want to include Abraham either. He was tired of the man constantly challenging him and had no use for Eugene either. He felt no qualms about leaving either of the two men out of their plans.

Chapter 19

Daryl sighed. He shouldn't have let himself get that angry. Maddie had said they were supposed to fit in, and he had shown his ass and stomped off like some dumb ass redneck. He hoped she wasn't too aggravated with him. He turned around to go back in and saw Maddie in the doorway holding a can of soda.

"Here babe," and she handed him the soda.

"Do you wanna go back in?" he asked her. Maddie looked at him and saw a contrite look on his face and her heart turned over. She smiled softly at him.

"No, I'm glad to get out of there. Let's take a walk around some, I'll show you some more of the town."

Daryl nodded in relief and they headed down the steps to the street. "Have you seen the garden and the farm?" she asked as they clasped hands.

"What?" he asked in bewilderment.

"Yeah, this place is supposed to be self-sustaining so they made sure to include a decent sized garden area and a barn and pens for some milk cows and chickens and pigs." He raised his eyebrow at her. "They have a set up kind of like they used to have on the Amish farms-you know, smokehouse, a place to butcher the hogs and the cows, a place to can vegetables and all that stuff. Of course they never planned on having to do it on a really large scale, it was just a basic set up to see how it went. Luckily when the shit hit the fan they'd stored a lot of dried goods and canned stuff so they had food to get them through until they could harvest some crops and learn all about butchering and curing."

Daryl whistled. "How do you know all this stuff?" he asked her.

"Well, remember Marshall used to read all about that doomsday prepper stuff. He thought most of those folks were lunatics, but he said it was always best to be prepared just in case. Not go crazy about it, mind you, not to get as obsessed as some of those folks on the shows were. But he was always reading about communities they were setting up like this to experiment with wind and solar and water energy. When we decided to leave up North he remembered reading about this place and decided we should try to come here and see how it worked out."

Daryl nodded thoughtfully. "Pretty good thinking." Maddie nodded and broke into a trot as they neared what he could see was an area with a barn in it. He heard the moo of a cow. He had never thought he'd hear that sound ever again. It seemed like on the outside all the animals had died of starvation or been eaten by the walkers or folks lucky enough to stumble onto them. The last farm animals he'd seen were back at the Greene farm. He bit his lip, thinking about Herschel and Beth.

Looking up, he saw a large dark horse leaning it's head over the pen and nickering softly at Maddie. She stroked his nose and kissed him, murmuring softly to him.

"Friend of yours?" he whispered to her, careful not to get too close and startle the horse.

Maddie continued to stroke and pat the horse's neck and face. "Oh yes," she murmured. "Blackie and I became fast friends a couple months back. Aaron found him outside wandering around, nearly skin and bones. It's a wonder the walkers didn't get him and eat him. Aaron said it took him a few weeks to get his trust so he could throw a lead over him and bring him back." Daryl nodded and approached cautiously, holding his hands out carefully so the horse could get his scent. "Aaron and Eric and I have made sure he got fattened back up and that he's healthy. We know we can't ever take him outside the wall-we're afraid he'd get pulled out from whoever was riding him if they got caught in a mob. So he gets to live a life of leisure in here. There's some apple trees further back and Blackie gets to snack on those sometimes as a treat." The horse nickered softly and pushed his nose at Daryl, urging him to pet him. Daryl laid his hand carefully on the horse's neck and stroked him.

"Well, ain't you something there?" he murmured. "Spoiled rotten I bet." He smiled down at Maddie who was still absorbed in petting the horse and had her face pressed against the horse's neck.

"I'll bring you an apple tomorrow," she murmured into the horse's neck. His ears pricked back and forth and he snorted and stomped his front hoof.

"Looks like you better keep your promise or this boy will be mad at you," Daryl teased her. The horse seemed to nod his head at this and then snorted again and pulled away to trot off and flick his tail and stretch his neck. Daryl pulled Maddie to lean against his chest. "Man, this place is just full of surprises."

Maddie nodded. "I wish I could just relax and believe that this is safe and just stay here and be happy."

Daryl grunted. "Yeah, I can see that. It would be easy to lower your guard and just go with all this."

They headed back toward their home in companionable silence.

Chapter 20

When they got back to the house, they saw Rick and Carl sitting on the sofa, lightly dozing. Carol was rocking Judith in a rocker by the front window. Michonne was standing by the fireplace.

Daryl raised his eyebrow at her. "Where's the rest of them?" he asked.

Michonne rolled her eyes. "Abraham got drunk and started arguing with Rick, so Rosita brought him back to the house next door to try and get him to go to sleep." Daryl shook his head and made a grimace of disgust. "Noah and Tara said they were tired and went to their rooms over there in that house. Eugene is over there too, I don't know what he's doing but at least he didn't make any trouble at the party." Daryl nodded his head. "Glen and Maggie are still at the party."

"Where did you two sneak off to?" Carol whispered.

Daryl and Maddie motioned Michonne to come over to where Carol sat. "Maddie took me to an area where they've got crops planted and pigs and chickens and cows for milk and beef," Daryl informed them. Michonne nodded and Carol made a face of surprise. "Yeah, they've pretty much thought of everything," Daryl continued. They all stood there a few minutes, Carol and Michonne absorbing this information. Rick and Carl stirred on the couch and Rick yawned.

"Hey you two are back," he said.

Daryl nodded. "Yeah, I was just telling these two that Maddie showed me where they've got crops and farm animals and all that."

Rick nodded. "Yeah, Deanna and her husband were talking about that tonight. They realize if they admit too many more folks in here they'll have to do something about expanding the crop area and add more animals. There's no one here that ever lived on a farm or was a vet so they can start breeding some of the animals or something. I told them Maggie had grown up on a farm, but she probably isn't as knowledgeable about all that for what they need."

Carol nodded. "I have to say, for planning on this place being self-sustaining they forgot some pretty important stuff."

Daryl jerked his chin at her. "Like what?" he asked.

"Well," Carol continued, "lack of doctors, no real medical facility, no real handymen-carpenters, plumbers, electricians."

Daryl shook his head. "Typical," he mumbled.

Rick looked at Daryl, thinking. "That could be to our advantage."

Daryl looked back at him. "How's that?"

"Well," said Rick, "we can offer to repair the walls and other stuff and that will give us unlimited access and opportunity to explore inside and outside."

Carol, Michonne, and Daryl all looked at each other and nodded slowly. Daryl looked over at Maddie and saw she was nodding too.

"Maddie, I want to thank you," Rick said, putting a hand on Maddie's shoulder. "If you hadn't called this to our attention, we'd have been lulled into a false sense of security. Thankfully you're here and now we know how to proceed." He squeezed Maddie's arm and turned to Carl who was still dozing on the couch. He turned back and took the now sleeping Judith from Carol and stepped over to Carl. He gently shook Carl's shoulder. "C'mon son, let's turn in for the night now," he whispered. Carl stirred sleepily and Rick pulled him up from the couch and they staggered off toward the master bedroom on the ground floor they were all sharing.

Carol and Michonne looked at each other. "I think you and I need to figure out a few things," Carol said softly to Michonne. Michonne nodded back. Maddie cleared her throat and placed her finger on her lips, reminding them to be quiet and careful what they discussed inside the house. They both nodded and Carol picked up a pad and pen and they headed over to the couch to sit together and start on some plans.

Daryl put his arm around Maddie and squeezed her shoulder. "You tired," he whispered.

She nodded and leaned against him. "C'mon then, let's go to bed." He murmured and pulled her with him toward the stairs.

They pulled off their clothes silently and he lifted her up into the bed and then slid in next to her. They both sighed and he pulled the sheet up over them both and turning to his side he pulled her over to him, her back against his chest. He folded his arms around her and kissed her hair. Maddie nestled closer to him and sighed. Within a few minutes she was breathing deeply, sound asleep. Daryl stared into the dark, his brain starting the process of planning how and when they were going to leave this place. He was sure that it would be by fall at the very latest. He decided that he would start going out regularly and each time expand his perimeter so he could see how the wall could be fortified or if it would even be worth the effort. He fell asleep still thinking of strategies, and dreamt all night of monsters chasing him and Maddie across an ever increasingly hostile landscape.

Chapter 21

Jump forward to the end of September. Four months have passed. Rick, Carol, Michonne, Maddie and Daryl have proceeded with their plans to stockpile a secret stash of weapons outside the wall. Daryl has completed putting together the first bike and is close to completing the work on a second that he and Aaron had found while out on runs. He has also made sure to explore an ever widening perimeter in search of any other groups that might pose a threat to them. Although Rick didn't want Carl involved in any of this, he had to admit Carl was no longer a boy after all that he'd been through and had been able to hold his own much better than some adults would have. Carl had used his budding friendship with a young girl named April to explore the entire community and to find escape routes in the weaker parts of the wall that would be faster and easier than climbing over the wall. They all kept a close watch on these areas, aware that if they could get out somebody else could get in.

To keep a watch on these areas, Rick had finally persuaded Deanna to institute twenty-four hour surveillance on the wall and to set up guns in the watchtowers and have somebody man them. He and Daryl had had to give shooting lessons to most of the men and women that lived here. Even after all that had happened, many of them had yet to have held any kind of gun or shoot a gun even in target practice. They held drills a few times a week and although at first Deanna had emphasized these were mandatory until Rick felt everyone had the basics down pat, it was only a few weeks before the number of folks at the target practices had sharply dropped to just a few teenagers and men in their thirties. The older men seemed to not be interested in any type of activity that would imply they weren't all safe and had nothing to worry about.

Rick and Michonne had taken up sheriff duties and took turns patrolling the streets and quelling any minor disturbances such as they were. Daryl had told them it was like living with a flock of stupid sheep-these people didn't seem to even want to think for themselves and blindly obeyed whatever Deanna or her husband proclaimed.

They had kept their plans a secret from Abraham, Noah, Rosita, Tara and Eugene. They were on the fence about saying anything to either Glen or Maggie. Maggie had thrown herself into the daily running of the town and seemed to have totally bought into the illusion of safety it offered. Glen had privately expressed some doubts, but seemed to be completely under Maggie's thumb and they realized he would not say or do anything to distress or upset her. They were resigned to the idea that when push came to shove, Glen and Maggie may well have to be left behind in order to keep themselves safe.

Rick had become friendly with a young wife and mother of two boys. She had gotten in the habit of bringing the boys over to visit with Carl, or to cut Rick's hair or just hang out with Maggie or Maddie. Maddie liked her but was unsure if she wanted Jocelyn included in their plans. Jocelyn was married to a man who had in their previous life been a lawyer. The man was abrupt, rude and abrasive. Maddie was secretly sure that he was verbally if not physically abusive to Jocelyn. Jocelyn had never intimated as such to Maddie but just the way the couple acted around each other made her wonder. One day Carol had whispered her thoughts to Maddie, and they were unhappily surprised they were in agreement regarding that situation. They could also see that there was a spark between Rick and Jocelyn, and feared that sooner or later there would be some kind of blow up between Rick and Jocelyn's husband, Donald.

Chapter 22

Daryl and Aaron stumbled upon a camp of rough men an hour or so from the town one day while out. They set up a schedule to silently survey the group and came to discover the men seem to be a ragtag collection of rough, brutish men. They could also see women and men that looked like they were being held against their will-they watched as these men and women were beaten, and used as if they were the spoils of war. The savage men also often fought amongst themselves violently and seemed to have no real leader-at least not that Aaron and Daryl could discern. They keep watch for a couple of weeks and realize that the group is planning an attack on another town another hour away to the west of them. After discussion with Rick and looking up old reports in Deanna's office they discover there were originally four of these self-sustaining towns constructed. Two had not been complete when the virus hit-they were located further south of Alexandria. Only Alexandria and a town called Leesburg seemed to have been completed.

Rick and Michonne began surveying the camp of rough men with Daryl and Aaron and inventorying any weapons or vehicles they could see. Carol has been doing her part by stealthily removing weapons from the armory and passing them to Carl and April who then take them to the shack to stockpile and hide.

They've had a few close calls, but by and large their plan has gone smoothly for the most part. They've decided to make their exit in the first weeks of October. They finally found two old range rovers that they've hidden by the hut. They also have managed to scavenge up a decent supply of gas that can at least get them a few hours away from here. They've poured over maps endlessly, trying to decide where they should go. One day Maddie had written excitedly on a piece of paper "Boulder" and showed it to Daryl and Rick. They had just shrugged. Maddie scribbled furiously again and showed them the paper. She had written that Marshall had read in the event of an apocalypse the best place to go would be any place that was sparsely populated. That would include the majority of the western states-Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. And she remembered that in an old book she had read about the end of the world the good group had gone to Boulder-it was up in the mountains and easily defendable. For that matter, any of those old deserted mining towns up in the Rockies would serve their purpose.

Rick and Daryl mapped out a possible route. They estimated it would take them a minimum of five to six days to get there, and that was if they could find enough gas so they could travel in vehicles and find a route without a lot of obstacles. They agreed they didn't have to go all the way to Boulder if they ran into difficulties and acknowledged that most of those states would probably be mostly deserted at this point. Everyone agreed that the important thing was to leave this place without losing any of their core group before anyone attacked them. The information the group had from surveying the rough group of men made them anxious to get away from this place.

Chapter 23

One night in early October, Daryl motioned Rick and Michonne to follow him across to the park. He had left Maddie asleep in their room. She had been tired all day and said she just wanted to lie down for a little bit. He had frowned at that, but admitted she had been pushing herself very hard the last few months along with all the rest of them to get ready to leave.

"Rick, I think we need to make our move the next couple of nights," Daryl started. Rick and Michonne nodded.

"What's happened?" Rick asked.

"Well, it looks like they're planning another raiding party and I don't want to take any chances of them coming here," Daryl answered.

"Do we have enough supplies?" Rick questioned. Michonne nodded.

"Yes, Carol has been a busy little bee," Michonne answered. "I went out with her a week or so again and she has a very sizeable stash out there." Rick and Daryl nodded.

"Okay," Rick answered. "Then we need to decide who is going with us and who is getting left behind. We need to all be in agreement with this, we can't have any second guessing." He continued.

Daryl nodded. "I think we've all agreed that we can't bring Noah, Rosita or Abraham. And definitely not Eugene." Michonne and Rick nodded in agreement. Sasha had disappeared not long after the party they had attended that first week. No one knew where she had gone or what had happened to her. She had just been there one day and gone the next.

Michonne said quietly, "What about Maggie and Glen?"

Daryl bit his lip in thought. "What about we tell Glen what's going on without any details? Like don't give him an actual date or the location of our stuff. Just tell him we're thinking of leaving and see if he and Maggie want to come with us." He looked at Rick questioningly.

"Yeah, that'll work," Rick answered. "I'll try to catch him tomorrow and tell him it'll be soon and he needs to decide quickly. And not to tell Maggie until we actually leave."

Daryl and Michonne nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, because as happy as she is here I doubt she'd leave here quietly," Daryl murmured.

"Okay, then. It's what, Monday?" Rick asked. Daryl shrugged and Michonne shook her head and shrugged. "Well, I think it is Monday," Rick continued. "Let's plan on leaving day after tomorrow. Close to midnight, so everyone in town here is sound asleep." Daryl and Michonne nodded in agreement.

"I'll fill Carol in tomorrow," Michonne murmured. She looked speculatively at Rick. "What about Jocelyn and her two boys?" she asked Rick. He turned red and wouldn't look at her. "Hey Rick, we don't care that you been sneaking around with her-she's a nice woman and her husband is an asshole. But fooling around is one thing, asking her to join us is another. Do you trust her?" she continued. Daryl felt his mouth hanging open like an idiot. He had never even noticed what was going on between Rick and Jocelyn. Of course, he hadn't been studying them like some high school girl snooping around trying to bust other kids. He wondered that Maddie hadn't said anything to him. Girls noticed shit like that. He looked at Rick, who was struggling not to look embarrassed as hell at being caught out like this.

"Well," Rick started, "that's the problem. You're right, it's one thing to be sneaking around like this but quite another to ask her to leave her husband and what she thinks of as a safe place to run off with a man she barely knows and go outside the wall where anything bad can and does happen. She's got two young boys to worry about." He sighed. "I would like to think if I asked her, she would come along with us. I'll have to think about it." Michonne nodded. They split up and headed back to the house.


	12. Chapter 12

Daryl headed down the stairs and into the bedroom. He heard Maddie retching in the bathroom and hurried over to see her kneeling over the toilet. He leaned over and grabbed her long curls and held them back. "Hey let me do this," he whispered. Maddie started to sob. "Hey girl, it's okay. Ya probly just got a stomach bug or ate something that didn't agree with you." Maddie shook her head and leaned back and put her face in her hands. Her sobs increased in volume and intensity. Daryl knelt down next to her and pulled her hands away from her face. "Maddie, what is wrong? What has got you so damn upset?" She looked down at their hands and hiccupped a sob. He gave her a small shake. "What is it dammit?" he asked anxiously. Could she be badly sick? Had someone upset her? He racked his brain trying to think if he had done or said anything she might've gotten upset about.

"Oh, oh," she sobbed. "You're going to be so mad," she wailed. She refused to look up at him. His mind tried to remember anything he might have done that would have put that idea in her head.

"Baby, I will not be mad at anything you do or say. Why don't you just tell me so we can work this out?" He pulled her up and toward the bed. He had made her a step stool so she could climb up onto the bed without assistance, but she stopped and stubbornly refused to get up on the bed. He impatiently grabbed her around the waist and swung her up onto the bed and grasped her shoulders in his hands and tightened his grip and shook her head again. Worry was making him rough with his hands.

"C'mon dammit. Just tell me what has got you so upset."

Maddie put her face in her hands again and whispered something so low he couldn't catch it. He released his hold on her when he realized he was going to leave a bruise if he didn't let go. He turned and slapped his hand against the wall. He felt wild, anger washing over him rapidly and stress and anxiety making him react more violently than he had been wont to in months.

Maddie started and leaned over and curled up tightly on the bed, her back to him. He could hear her whispering, choking out something between sobs. He crossed over and yanked her roughly toward him again. He shook her again. She looked up at him and her eyes widened. She had never seen him this upset, and especially not with her. Her lower lip trembled and she tried to pull away from his grip.

"No dammit, no. You are going to tell me what all this bullshit is about or I will shake it the fuck outta you," he yelled. He started to shake her as he spoke, rather violently. He felt wild, as if he were just going to come completely unglued. He stopped shaking her, suddenly realizing he was probably hurting her. He took his hands off her and stepped back and clenched his hands into fists to keep himself from grabbing her again. He took a deep breath to calm himself.

"Now then," he said slowly breathing out a deep breath. "I'm sorry for doing that. You have me scared. Please tell me what is wrong and we'll figure it out together."

Maddie closed her eyes and flinched. "I'm pregnant." She murmured.

Daryl stared at her stupidly. "What?" he asked. "What did you say?"

"I'm pregnant," she said a little louder, her eyes still clenched tightly shut. She crossed her arms over her chest as if to shield herself from another assault.

Daryl stood staring at her. She was pregnant. And she was crying about it. Was she that ashamed of him still? Was she upset that she was having a baby with some white trash redneck asshole she would never have spoken to much less sleep with before the end of the world had crashed down on them?

At his silence, her sobs became more frantic and she had trouble catching her breath. He put his hand on her cheek and she flinched. That hurt his feelings deeply. Why would she think he would be mad at her?

"Maddie," he whispered softly, "baby. No I am not mad." She opened her eyes and looked up at him, still crying. "Oh Maddie," he whispered. "A baby. Our baby. I never thought I'd ever have anyone tell me that." He caressed her cheek and kissed her forehead. "Are you unhappy that it's my baby? Is that what's wrong?" He held his breath, waiting for the answer that would completely break his heart.

Maddie gave a little gasp and grasped his hand in hers. "No!" she exclaimed. "No, that's not it at all. I was afraid that you would be mad. With all the stuff that is going on, it's not a very convenient time for this."

Daryl laughed in relief. "Well, from what I understand, most babies don't arrive on any schedule but their own-convenient or not. You're sure that's all? You're not ashamed of me, that it's mine?"

Maddie shook her head vehemently. "No! Not at all!"

Daryl pulled her close to him and kissed her mouth, tasting the salt from her tears. "Well, that's good. So, we're going to have a baby," he said wonderingly. He sat down beside her and pulled her down onto her back and laid on his side, his head on his hand. He laid his other hand on her flat stomach. She put her hand over his and sighed.

"How far along are you? Or can you tell?" he asked.

"I've only missed one period so far, but it's two weeks overdue."

"Maybe you're just late. Doesn't that happen sometimes?" He had never been sure how all that worked but he felt he would be learning a lot more than he wanted to in the coming months.

"No, I'm pretty regular. I've been drinking some herbal teas that Marshall had always told me would keep me from getting pregnant. I had a diaphragm when we were together, but that got lost when we had to leave a place suddenly one night. After that he told me to drink some nasty tasting tea, but it worked."

"So, were you drinking any of that tea the last couple of months?" he asked softly.

Maddie shook her head. "No, we ran out and then Marshall got a lot worse. Then he died. I didn't ever think about it when you and I started up. But I kept getting my periods regular so I kept forgetting to find something to use. I figured maybe all the stress was throwing my system out of wack or something." She bit her lip and looked up at him, her eyes about to brim over with tears.

Daryl pulled her against his chest, her back to him and kept his hand on her stomach. "Well," he said again in wonder. "So when do you think you'll have him?" he asked idly, trying to work it out in his head.

Maddie rolled onto her back and frowned up at him. "Him? You're going to just assume we're having a boy?" she asked. He could tell she felt better by her tone of voice, it was teasing and her tears were forgotten.

"Well sure," he half laughed, "isn't that what guys do? Guys want boys, girls want girls. Right?"

Maddie smiled back at him. "Well, I suppose you're right." She replied. "I guess we'll just have to wait until she makes her arrival to find out who's right," she teased back.

"And when will that be, or is that your secret?" he whispered against her ear.

"I think probably in May. I think. It depends on how far along I am," she answered, counting the months on her fingers.

"Hunh" he drawled, "my birthday is in May. That would be nice for my son," and he emphasized the word son, "to be born on my birthday." She pinched his arm that lay across her stomach.

"Hmm," she said back, "yes, we'll have to wait til spring for her arrival," and she stressed the word her like he had son.

He laughed and kissed her lips very gently and brushed her hair out of her eyes. "I guess that means that now that all the pressure is off we can just have fun and enjoy this," he whispered against her lips.

"So you haven't been having fun?" she whispered back and laughed softly.

"No," he kissed her again. "No, that was all for show. Didn't want you to see how much I was suffering," he jerked back slightly as she nipped at his lip.

"Hmmm. That is a shame," she whispered throatily as she rolled over onto him. "A damn shame indeed you poor, poor thing," she murmured as they began to kiss. They made love carefully, slowly, each feeling an added importance and gravity to the act. Afterwards they fell asleep speaking about their future and the hopes and dreams they had not dared to even contemplate until now.

Chapter 25

The next morning when Daryl and Maddie came upstairs to the kitchen, Carol and Michonne were sitting at the table writing on a pad and passing it back and forth. Carol nodded at the two and gave them a thumbs up. Daryl nodded back and pulled Maddie to a chair and pulled it out for her. Carol frowned quizzically. Daryl treated Maddie very well, but what was up with him pulling a chair out for her.

"What do you want to eat Maddie?" he asked her. She started to get back up and he pushed her back down.

"Naw, stay in your seat. Ya need to rest while ya can." Maddie turned pink and shook her head in exasperation. Michonne looked up and frowned. Carol looked from Maddie to Daryl searchingly.

"Well, whatcha wanna eat Mads?" Daryl asked her, oblivious to the stares from Michonne and Carol. They looked at each other and then again at Maddie.

"She wasn't feeling very good last night or this morning, so I just figured she should take it easy today," Daryl grumbled. He pulled some bread out and stuck it in the toaster. He got the butter out and some juice and poured a glass and sat it in front of Maddie. Carol's eyes widened.

"Oh my Lord, you're pregnant!" she exclaimed excitedly. Michonne started laughing.

Daryl glared at both Michonne and Carol. "Now why would ya say that? That's crazy! She just doesn't feel good, is all," he huffed as he started buttering the toast and handed it to Maddie. He stood and leaned against the wall behind Maddie with his arms crossed over his shoulder, daring them to say anything else. Carol and Michonne just laughed even harder and Maddie turned a bright red up to her hairline. Rick walked in with Judith in his arms and smiled in puzzlement.

"Hey, what's so funny?" he asked. Before Daryl could answer, Carol burst out "Maddie and Daryl are expecting."

Rick just stared stupidly. "Expecting what?" he paused and his eyes lit up. "Oh," he said and turned to look at Maddie more closely.

"Hey, that's enough!" Daryl snapped. "There's nothing going on," he started. Maddie turned and put her hand on his arm. "Aw babe. They might as well know. We're all going to be living in even closer quarters than we are now I imagine." She turned around and smiled shyly at the other three.

"How far along are you?" Carol asked. Daryl snorted and shifted uneasily against the wall.

"Barely," Maddie answered. "I just told him last night," she said as she gestured at Daryl.

"Can you make a guess as to when she's due?" Carol asked.

Daryl made a snort of disgust. "It could very well be a boy, ya know!" he said.

Carol laughed at the look on his face. "Well, yes that's true."

"We hope he'll be born on my birthday in May," Daryl said, and they all saw how proud and happy he was.

Maddie laughed. "Well at least we'll have something to talk about over the winter now," she giggled.

Rick shook his head and grinned at Daryl. He passed Judith over to him. "Guess you need to practice a lot more now. No more just feeding her and passing her back. Gotta get some practice changing and dressing," he started.

"Yeah, yeah…now y'all are gonna start bustin' my chops right," Daryl grumbled but he had a huge grin on his face.

Glen strolled into the kitchen and looked around quizzically. "Hey guys, what's going on?" he asked.

"Looks like we're getting another member of our group," Rick answered.

Glen looked around. "What do you mean?" he asked.

Rick laughed. "Looks like Daryl's going to have his own little ass kicker in the spring," he told Glen.

Glen's mouth dropped open and he stared at Daryl in disbelief.

Daryl jerked his chin at Glen and smirked. "Yeah, that's right. Got something to say about it?"

Glen held both hands up and shook his head. "No, no. Not yet anyway. Give me a while though and I'll have plenty to say," he laughed teasingly.

"I bet you will," Daryl huffed and then he laughed. Glen stepped over and clapped Daryl on the shoulder since Daryl had his arms full with Judith.

Michonne cleared her throat and looked at Rick. Rick nodded and put his hand on Glen's arm. "Hey do you think I could talk to you a minute in private?"

Glen shrugged. "Yeah, sure. What's up?"

Rick pointed toward the front door. "Let's go outside and talk." Glen glanced around at the others, who were stone faced. Then he followed Rick out to the porch and down the stairs. Carol got up and took Judith from Daryl and handed him a note. On it she had written, "Have you talked to Aaron and Eric?"

Daryl nodded and bent down, grabbed a pencil lying by Michonne's hand and started scribbling rapidly. He handed it to Michonne. He had written that Aaron and Eric were fully aware of their plans and were joining them. They were ready to go whenever it was decided on. Michonne wrote again on the paper and pushed it back over to Daryl. She had written, "I talked to Tara, and she wants to come with us too. She doesn't feel comfortable here. Abraham and Rosita fight all the time, and he's been drinking a lot." Daryl nodded and grunted at that. He quickly figured up the tally-Rick, Judith, Carl, Michonne, Glen and Maggie maybe, Tara, Aaron and Eric, he and Maddie. Not a large group, but each person could be trusted completely. Daryl jerked his chin at Carol and whispered Jocelyn's name. Carol shrugged and shook her head. He looked over at Michonne and she shrugged as well. He frowned. Rick didn't need to leave this til the last minute. It was not like him to have already had this planned out and informed the rest of them. Daryl decided to go out and ask Rick and see how the talk with Glen was going.

"Be right back he mumbled," and dropped a quick kiss on Maddie's head. Without looking around he headed out the front door and down the steps.

Maddie noticed that both Michonne and Carol were staring at her excitedly. "Okay, I know y'all are dying to ask me questions. Hurry up and ask before he gets back," she giggled.

Carol sat down in a chair and leaned toward Maddie. "When did you realize you are pregnant?"

Maddie shrugged her shoulders. "I'm two weeks late, and I've been feeling sick to my stomach some mornings. I didn't think much about it at first, but last night I thought about it and realized what was going on."

"How was Daryl when you told him?" Michonne asked. She hoped he'd been good about this. She knew he was not the most open person emotionally, and despite his attempts at keeping everyone at arm's length with his rude behavior he had unknowingly softened quite a bit when Maddie joined them. She just hoped that this wouldn't overwhelm him-he still got flustered and upset easily and they would need him to have a clear head if they wanted to get away from here and find someplace safe before winter set in. She remembered growing up all the sayings folks would spout about the signs of a mild or harsh winter and from what she remembered the signs she were noticing pointed to a harsh one.

"Well, I was crying cuz I thought he'd be mad," she started.

"Why would you think that sweetie?" Carol interjected.

"Well, it's not a very convenient time and all," Maddie explained, ducking her head in embarrassment.

Michonne snorted. "If babies only came when it was convenient, there wouldn't be any," she said.

Maddie nodded. "That's kinda what he said. Once I told him and he knew why I was crying, he practically did the happy dance around the room." She smiled, remembering his face when he'd realized what she was trying to tell him.

"Well, I imagine so," Carol said. "We can all plainly see he's crazy about you. And he loves little Judith here, he's always been partial to her right from the get go. I imagine he'll drive you crazy now hovering over you and insisting you rest up." Maddie sighed and rolled her eyes. "You let him pamper you though. It'll hurt his feelings if you don't. He likes to feel needed and this will be a great opportunity for him to show you just how much he cares about you." Maddie nodded in agreement. "In fact," Carol continued, "I wouldn't be surprised if this changes our destination a little," she had dropped her voice to barely above a whisper.

Michonne nodded. She wrote on a piece of paper and pushed it toward Maddie and Carol. She had written that she had seen Daryl and Rick looking at some maps and one of them was of Michigan. Carol and Maddie shrugged their shoulders and nodded.

Just then, Rick and Daryl came back into the house and wandered into the kitchen.

"Where's Glen," Carol asked. Daryl and Rick shook their heads.

"He said Maggie's pretty set on staying here. She feels safe, she likes the job Deanna gave her. She's talking about them starting a family. He said he doesn't feel comfortable saying anything to her. He doesn't feel comfortable here, doesn't really trust Deanna and some of the others, but he doesn't want to go against Maggie's wishes just in case we're wrong," he scribbled on a piece of paper and they passed it amongst themselves. Michonne and Carol sighed.

Daryl grunted in disgust. "I'm gonna go over to Aaron's for a minute and take a look at the bike," he mouthed at Rick. Rick nodded and Daryl set off. Maddie ran after him and grabbed his arm.

"Hey, you okay?" she asked. He stopped and gave a quick nod.

"Yeah, just getting nervous is all. You stay here and rest up and I'll be right back." He started to leave but she caught his arm again.

"I'm going to the bakery to fill some orders. I should be back around three," she explained. When he frowned, she tugged his arm and he leaned down for her to whisper in his ear.

"We've got to look normal remember? So I've gotta go and act like it's just any other day." Reluctantly he nodded and then kissed her softly on her mouth. He started to say something, then just kissed her again and strode quickly out the door and down the steps in the direction to Aaron's house. Maddie stood there watching him and sighed. She should never have told him. Now he would worry himself sick until they got someplace safe-if they could find someplace safe. Brushing her hair out of her eyes she turned toward the kitchen and called to them, "I'm going to the bakery to take care of some orders. I'll be back around three." She heard them murmur okay as she headed out the door and toward the bakery. At least baking would take her mind off all this for a little while. Maybe she could make him some kind of special pie. She brightened at that thought and sped up. As she passed Aaron's house she could see Daryl, Eric and Aaron in the garage looking over both the bikes and talking in low voices. She broke into a trot, in a hurry to get to the bakery now that she had thought of making him a special pie.


	13. Chapter 13

Maddie had baked some bread, and some cookies and was starting to put Daryl's special pie together when Jocelyn's two boys came in.

"Hey guys, how are you doing today?" she asked brightly. Her smile faded as she took in their distressed faces. "Hey, where's your mom?" she asked frowning.

The oldest boy, Chase, rubbed his face. It looked like he'd been crying. "She's at home. She asked us to come pick up the cookies she ordered." She nodded. She didn't like the sound of this. The younger boy, Trey, sniffled uncertainly.

"Well, I just got them out of the oven and I made a few extra too. How bout I go with you to deliver them in person? I was just about to drop off some bread I made for your neighbor, so I can drop off the cookies too." Chase and Trey nodded in agreement as Maddie handed them each a cookie. She put the bread in a basket and handed Chase the tin of cookies. She turned the oven off and shut the back door. She looked regretfully at the pie crust –Daryl's pie would have to wait.

They walked out the front door and Maddie closed it behind her and they headed off. Four houses from Jocelyn's Maddie stopped. "I'll just run up to the door and give Mrs. Patterson her bread," she explained. "Y'all wait right here." She trotted quickly up the stairs and knocked on the front door. Mrs. Patterson was an older woman who had lost her husband and family to the virus and had come with Jocelyn and her family to Alexandria. She shared her house with a few other older folks that were also without family. She was a kindly grandmotherly type.

"Hey, Mrs. Patterson," Maddie started. "I've got your bread here for you." Mrs. Patterson nodded and took the basket from Maddie.

"Thanks dear. That was sweet of you, but you didn't have to go to the trouble. I would've walked over there in a little bit." Her gaze wandered to the two boys standing in the street with the tin of cookies. "Are they alright," she whispered to Maddie. Maddie frowned.

"What do you mean?" she asked. She was getting a really bad feeling about this.

"Well," and here Mrs. Patterson put her hand on her chest and shook her head slightly. "I heard some commotion over there this morning. When I looked over, Jocelyn was lying on the grass and that husband of hers was standing over her, shouting. The two boys were on the sidewalk, crying their hearts out. He yelled at them to get in the house. When Jocelyn started to get up, he pushed her back down and slapped her. Then he turned around and started down the street this way. I stepped back so he wouldn't see my gawping out here at all that." She paused and tutted again. "After he passed, I went over to help Jocelyn and she was crying and was starting to get a nasty bruise on her cheek. She wouldn't look at me and kept insisting she was fine and then she went and shooed the boys back in the house and shut the door."

Maddie's mouth hung open. That bastard! She had long suspected there was something wrong between those two, but she had never seen any actual signs like bruising or Jocelyn wearing sunglasses at night or any of the other things she used to hear her friends talk about. Well, there were other kinds of abuse than physical. She imagined that jerk was verbally abusing Jocelyn as well. That kind of abuse was more easily hidden from casual observers.

She put her hand on Mrs. Patterson's arm and sighed. "Thank you for telling me, ma'am. I've been concerned for a while but didn't feel comfortable asking Jocelyn anything. We're not really friends or anything, I just see her when she comes in the bakery."

Mrs. Patterson nodded. "No, poor thing doesn't seem to have any friends. I don't imagine he lets her. I've known some women in my time that were always clumsy-walking into doors, falling down stairs. But in my day, no one really pressed the matter. I have always felt ashamed of myself that I didn't try to help them somehow." She sighed again. "And now with the world the way it is, you would hope that folks would try to be kinder to each other. But I guess the folks that were mean before all this will continue to be mean. It's a darn shame."

Maddie nodded. "Well, let me see if I can do something to help her. I can at least try." And with that she turned and went back to the boys and continued up the street to Jocelyn's house. When she knocked on the door, Jocelyn opened it and started. Maddie could see she had the beginnings of a bad black eye and her lip was split and her cheek bruised. There was no makeup that could hide this. Jocelyn looked away, embarrassed and ashamed. Maddie ushered the boys in and followed them. Jocelyn walked into the living room and sat down on the couch.

"Hey guys, you wanna take those in the kitchen so your mom and I can talk about your next order?" The two boys brightened up a bit and headed into the kitchen. When Maddie could hear them talking at the table she sat next to Jocelyn and took her hand and squeezed it. Jocelyn started to cry softly.

"Hey, now. I'm not asking any questions. If you want to tell me that's another thing. If all you feel like doing is crying some, that's okay too." Jocelyn nodded and sobbed a little harder. "If I can help you in any way possible, you tell me and I'll do it," she continued.

Jocelyn looked up at Maddie and brushed her hair out of her eyes. Maddie saw she was crying not from fear or sadness but from anger.

"He's always accused me of cheating on him. Even before everything happened and we wound up here," she waved her arm at the room, "always. I should never have married him, but I thought it was sweet that he was so protective and concerned about me. It got worse after I had the boys. He started questioning where I went every time I went out. If I went to a teacher's meeting for the boys, he accused me of sneaking around with the teacher." She blew out a breath of frustration. She bit her lip, then winced. She looked shyly over at Maddie and Maddie squeezed her hand silently. "Well, I guess I just got tired of it all. I mean, if I'm going to get accused of something I might as well just go ahead and do it?" She covered her face with her free hand. "I know that's not right, but it's how I felt. And Rick is so sweet, and gentle and kind. He's so good with his boy, and Chase and Trey think the world of him. He's so patient with them." She sighed again. "We've had to be very, very careful. We haven't really done much of anything. A few kisses here and there, mostly just longing looks and sighs. It's like being back in high school, only instead of my mother watching me like a hawk it's Donald watching me." She shook her head and frowned.

"So what happened today?" Maddie urged her gently. Jocelyn pulled her hand from Maddie and stood up and began to pace restlessly.

"I don't know. Rick stopped by yesterday to ask Donald something-I don't know what. And when Rick left, Donald started accusing me of wanting to be with Rick. I asked him why in the world he would ask that and he said he could tell by looking at the both of us that something had been going on." She threw her hands up in exasperation. "I couldn't understand it. I wasn't even in the same room with them except for maybe five minutes when I walked through to the kitchen."

Maddie nodded, thinking. She needed to get Jocelyn and the boys out of here and they were definitely coming with her group. Whether or not those madmen outside attacked this place or not, Jocelyn couldn't stay here with Donald. He would eventually hurt her or the boys badly.

Maddie stood up, thinking swiftly. "Look, pack some bags and you bring the boys back to our house. Tell the kids we're all having a sleepover. I'll explain to Daryl and Rick. Pack some stuff for you too." She looked at Jocelyn somberly. "You ain't staying here, no matter what. And I won't take no for an answer."

Jocelyn nodded in agreement. After arguing with Donald all last night and then this morning and him hitting her in front of the boys, she was in no mood to stay here until he came back and started in again. She turned to the kitchen. "Hey Chase! Trey! Go run and pack some clothes. Miss Maddie has invited y'all over for a sleepover at their house tonight." They cheered and ran to their rooms to pack. Jocelyn started to her bedroom and began rapidly flinging clothes in a duffel bag. Then she went into the bathroom and gathered toothbrushes and the like and threw them in a ziplock bag that she then stuffed into the duffel bag.

Maddie moved to the front door and opened it and looked out anxiously. She wanted them all to be gone before Donald got back. How long had he been gone? Where had he gone to?

Jocelyn and the boys met her at the door and closing the door firmly behind her, Jocelyn led the boys down the steps and across the lawn toward the street. Maddie followed them, looking over her shoulder anxiously.

Chapter 27

As they approached her house, Maddie saw Rick and Daryl standing in Aaron's driveway with Aaron and Eric. Rick stepped quickly toward Jocelyn and took her bag from her, gazing at her quietly, his jaw clenching rapidly. He nodded briefly at Maddie. "I'll take it from here Mads," he said quietly. He smiled at the boys and they smiled back. "So, y'all carrying your bags? Where ya going?" They looked at Maddie.

"Maddie invited us all over for a sleepover. She even invited Mom," Chase said proudly.

Rick nodded. "Well, great. Carl will enjoy the company. C'mon then, and we'll get y'all settled in." He switched the bag to his other hand and with his free hand he grasped Jocelyn's and squeezed. She looked up at him and he smiled. She leaned her shoulder against his for a brief moment, then straightened up and they continued walking to the house.

Maddie sighed and looked over at Daryl. He was standing in the driveway, his fists clenched at his sides. Aaron and Eric waved briefly and headed into their house to give Daryl and Maddie some privacy.

"That fucking bastard," Daryl growled.

"How did you know already?" Maddie asked.

"Cuz he brought his big bad self over here a while back, hollering where was Rick at? Had the nerve to brag about slapping Jocelyn around, accused Rick of fucking her for months now behind his back. Told us he would teach Rick not to mess with what was his. Eric snuck off and went to the house and told Rick what was going on. Rick came on out and I'd already punched the son of a bitch in the face and knocked him down. Rick pulled me offa him and told him that he didn't know what the hell was wrong with him, but if he didn't settle down he was going to shut Donald up in the city jail, being as Rick's the town cop." Daryl shook his head and snorted in disgust. "But oh no, Donald had to try and take a swing at Rick and I jumped him again. I got another coupla licks in before Rick dragged me offa him again. I told him it looked like the only people he could beat on were his wife and kids." He stomped his foot in anger.

Maddie nodded and laid her hand on his arm to try and calm him down some. "How is she?" Daryl asked. "Did he hurt her bad? Did he hurt those boys?" He stomped his foot again and pulled away from her to start pacing rapidly.

"Well, according to Mrs. Patterson he knocked Jocelyn down in the yard and slapped her in front of the boys," she began. Daryl stopped his pacing and glared at her.

"Christ!" he exclaimed. He felt the old rage boil up in him. No one had bothered to help his mom or him when his father had beat on them. He was damned if he'd see any asshole do that to their family without his stopping it.

"Where is Donald now?" Maddie asked.

"Rick threw his ass in jail. He had just got back when you all came walking up." Maddie nodded. "You know what this means?" he asked her. She shook her head, confused. "It means we're leaving tonight. It's only one day early, but Rick wants to get Jocelyn and the boys out of here before Donald gets out. And we're not waiting til midnight either. We're going as soon as the sun sets. As soon as first dark hits, we're leaving."

"Oh," Maddie whispered.

"Go on home and keep Jocelyn company. Make sure you have everything you need packed and ready. Aaron and Eric have already started moving some stuff out to the vehicles we hid. Carol and Michonne are taking care of some last minute stuff too. We're all going to meet back at the house at six. Figure we'll eat and then get ready and go once dark hits." He leaned over and kissed her quickly on the mouth, then patted her butt, urging her toward the house. "Go on, baby. Don't worry, we got this covered. I'll take care of you, just follow me and do exactly what I tell you when we get ready." Maddie nodded and headed down to the house. Her stomach was doing flips and her palms and gotten sweaty. She felt a trickle of sweat slowly drip down her back. She tried to take some deep breaths, but by the time she got to the house she could barely make it up the steps her legs were shaking so badly. She had been scared when she and Marshall had set out on their own, but it had just been the two of them. Now there were a lot more folks to worry about. And now she knew what was waiting outside the wall for them-ignorance had indeed been bliss. She crossed the living room to sit beside Jocelyn on the couch. Jocelyn looked over at her wordlessly and clasped her hand. They sat there, wordlessly watching the boys play with Carl and Carol rock Judith in the rocker by the fireplace. It was after one. Maddie sighed and closed her eyes. In a few minutes her head shifted to Jocelyn's shoulder and she was breathing softly, asleep. Jocelyn leaned her head back against a pillow and closed her eyes. She might as well take advantage now, she didn't think she'd be getting much sleep for the forseeable future.

Chapter 28

By five o'clock that evening, their group had assembled in the house. Rick looked around, making a mental tally. Michonne, Carol, Aaron and Eric, Carl and Judith, Jocelyn and her two boys, Daryl and Maddie. Tara walked in as he was looking around and nodded at everyone. He sighed. He was about to say something, when Glen and Maggie came up the porch steps. Maggie was frowning, and looked like she'd been crying. Glen jerked his head at Daryl and then Rick. "We need to go outside a minute, Maggie has something to tell you."

Daryl and Rick followed Glen and Maggie out onto the front lawn. "Well," Daryl blurted out. He was feeling anxious and tense, and was in no mood for surprises. Glen looked at Maggie.

"Well tell them what you heard," he whispered to her. Maggie looked down at the ground then back up at Rick and Daryl.

"I was in the office today and overheard Deanna and her son Aiden talking. Apparently Aiden saw you put Donald in jail and went over and talked to Donald." She hesitated.

"Well spit it out dammit," Daryl snarled.

Maggie glared at him. "Aiden told Deana that Donald told him there was something funny going on with our group. That somebody should be watching us. He told Deana that Donald claimed Rick was trying to steal his wife from him, and threatened to kill him if he stood in the way." Rick shook his head in disgust.

"Well who would blame him if he did?" Daryl said belligerently. Maggie rolled her eyes at him.

"That's not the point," Glen interrupted. "The point is that Deana disagreed with what Aiden was telling her, but to shut him up she agreed to start having the group watched. She told Aiden if he was that worried he could patrol the wall and our area here at night the next few nights."

Rick and Daryl blew out their breaths. "Jesus," Rick said.

"What time is he gonna start this damn patrol?" Daryl growled.

"I don't know, but I think just after dark. He doesn't want anyone to see him, he plans on doing some kind of secret surveillance he called it."

"Fuck," Daryl burst out. He started pacing around, his fists clenched.

Rick glanced at Glen and then Maggie. Maggie nodded. "Glen told me what you have planned. After what I heard today, I don't want to stay here."

"Why, what else was said?" Rick asked her.

"I heard them saying something about tapes and cameras and no one had heard anything unusual. Have they been listening in on us?" Maggie asked, her face turning red at the thought of what might have been heard.

Rick nodded. "Yeah, at least that's what Marshall had thought. Maddie told us when she first moved in with us to watch what we said or did around the house."

"Who's Marshall?" Glen asked. Daryl blew out another breath.

"He was Maddie's old man. We all hung around together back before the world went to shit."

Glen's eyes widened. "Oh," he said in surprise.

"What? Ya got something to say?" snarled Daryl.

Rick put his hand on Daryl's arm. "Hey, he didn't mean anything. And we don't have time for this anyway. If Aiden is going to start patrolling after dark, which it is getting to be right now, then we need to get going now." Daryl stopped pacing and nodded. "Do you two have anything you need to get before we leave?" Rick asked.

"No," Glen answered, "we've got our backpacks and I don't care about leaving everything here anyway. I just want to get away from here. We had nothing when we got here, I don't mind leaving with nothing." Maggie nodded in agreement.

"Alright then, let's go in and get everybody ready to go," Rick turned and started up toward the house.

"Aw fuck, now what," Daryl groaned. They turned to see what he was looking at and saw Eugene walking rapidly up the street toward them. Daryl clenched his fists and started toward Eugene. He could give Eugene a parting idea of what he thought of him for all the trouble he had caused them all. Rick grabbed his arm and stopped him.

Eugene stood a bit back from them, just out of Daryl's reach. "Hi," he began uncertainly.

"Fuck just spit it out and be on your way you lying asshole," Daryl spat at Eugene. Glen stepped up beside Daryl on the other side of Rick. He had seen Daryl's temper often enough that he knew they had to get him calmed down if they were going to get out of here without anyone seeing them.

Rick nodded at Eugene. "Well, what's up?"

Eugene glanced nervously at the three men. Maggie stepped up beside Glen and glared at Eugene, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Well, I've come to help you." Daryl started toward Eugene, meaning to beat him to a pulp, but Rick and Glen restrained him with no little effort.

"Hurry up and tell us what's going on Eugene, we don't have the time or patience for games," Rick said tersely. He was half inclined to let Daryl beat Eugene up if it wouldn't have drawn attention to them.

"I overheard Aiden telling a friend of his that his mom had said he could start patrolling down this way. He said he was sure you were all up to something and he didn't know what but he was going to stop it. He told his friend to get some other guys they hang out with and grab some guns. When one of the guys protested about the guns, Aiden said he intended on getting even with Glen for making him look bad."

Glen snorted. "Jesus, really? That was months ago. What the hell?"

Eugene nodded. "Well it seems Aiden holds a grudge for a long time. He also said he was going to let Donald out of his cell so that Donald could take care of Rick." Daryl spat and moved restlessly against Rick and Glen's hands. "Yeah, seems Aiden wanted to be in charge of any cops here, and he's mad at his mom for picking Michonne and Rick."

"Well, okay then Eugene. Thanks for the heads up," Rick said and started to pull Daryl toward the house.

"How the fuck do we even know he's telling the truth?" Daryl rasped. "He's lied before, how do we know he's not lying now?"

Eugene cleared his throat and they looked at him. "Because I'm going to help you get out of here tonight."

Daryl shouted, "we don't need no help from you!" but Rick shook him.

"Shut up Daryl," Rick said. He stood there thinking quietly. Then he looked at Eugene. "What kind of help?"

"I'm going to create a diversion. Something to keep Aiden and his friends away from here." Daryl snorted at this and Maggie huffed out a breath of air in disgust.

"And how you gonna do that?" Daryl growled at him.

"I made sure to get Abraham drunk-drunk enough to want to beat somebody up. And then I told him I had caught Aiden and Rosita together." Their mouths dropped open in surprise.

"Well I'll be damned," Daryl said and whistled.

Eugene nodded at them. "I owe all of you. You have all treated me fairly even after you found out about my lies." Here Daryl grunted and crossed his arms over his chest. Rick and Glen released their hold on him but watched him carefully.

"Well, thank you Eugene. We appreciate it," Rick said. Eugene nodded. "When is all this commotion supposed to start?"

It's already started. I watched Abraham walking toward the armory where Aiden and his friends were. Abraham was shouting about killing Aiden. Rosita had packed a bag and was going to stay with a friend over on the other side of town. So, you should probably leave now. I don't know how long this will be good for."

Rick nodded. "Okay. Thanks again. Take care of yourself." Eugene smiled oddly back at them and started walking back toward the armory. "C'mon guys, let's get everyone and go," Rick said.

Chapter 29

The group was standing in front of the area where they had created a place to slip out. They had told Chase and Trey they were going on a field trip and that they had to be quiet. Carl knew what was going on and had said he would keep an eye on the boys and keep them preoccupied. Tara had Judith bundled up against her. Glen and Maggie were in the rear, keeping watch. Rick motioned that he and Daryl would slip out first and make sure everything was clear before anyone else got out. "Remember, we still have to go about a half mile to where the vehicles are," he whispered. Aaron and Eric were walking the bikes on each side of the group. The plan was for them to ride one and Daryl and Maddie the other. Everyone had bundled up –the nights had been getting cooler. Michonne had told Rick and Daryl and Carol what she had remembered from the old almanacs about the signs for a bitter winter. Daryl had agreed. The last few times he had been out in the woods he had noticed signs as well. They had agreed that they needed to leave now if they wanted to get up north or out west before bad weather set in. it wasn't unheard of for some places to get snow by mid October.

Rick and Daryl slipped outside and everyone else stood quietly, trying their best not to make any noise. Carol clasped Maddie's hand to reassure her. Rick popped his head back through. "Michonne you can start helping everyone through the opening." Michonne nodded and motioned Carol and Maddie through and then slowly the others filed out in a single file. Aaron and Eric were extra careful with the bikes making sure now to get hung up in anything. At last Glen and Maggie were through, bringing up the rear. They turned and along with Michonne they camouflaged the opening in the wall so that nobody could see the opening from outside.

They all walked quickly toward the shack in the woods. Daryl and Rick and some of the others had their flashlights on so no one would trip or fall. Carl kept the boys quiet by pretending this was all part of their trip, a contest to see who could stay quiet the longest. Luckily the boys bought it and were thankfully silent.

Jocelyn walked beside Rick, their hands clasped. They hadn't spoken of the events of the day but Rick kept checking on her to make sure she wasn't crying or regretful of leaving Donald behind. He didn't really think she would be regretful, but women were funny sometimes.

Daryl and Maddie walked slightly behind Rick and Jocelyn, Daryl holding tightly to Maddie's hand to make sure she didn't fall. He felt he wouldn't be able to let go of her until they got far away from this place. He was anxious to get on the bike and go.

They came to the shack and began to uncover the vehicles and stow the stash of guns and ammo and supplies in the vehicles and strapped some of the bags onto the racks on top of the vehicles. Aaron and Eric came up beside Daryl and Maddie and Daryl helped Maddie onto their bike. Just then they heard some kind of explosion from the area they had just come from. They heard two more explosions and then saw flames shooting into the sky from the direction the town.

"What the hell did Eugene do?" Daryl wondered out loud.

"I bet he planted some bombs somewhere," Aaron said out loud.

"Bombs?" Rick asked.

"Yes, bombs. Not too many people knew that beside all the guns and ammo there were some military explosives as well. I don't know what kind, but I'm sure they were pretty powerful," Aaron continued.

"Well great. Let's get out of here while that shit is going on," Daryl grumbled. They split up into two groups in the vehicles. Rick, Jocelyn, Carl and the boys and Judith were in the first vehicle. Carol, Michonne, Tara, Glen and Maggie were in the second. Aaron and Eric were on one bike, Daryl and Maddie on the other. Daryl and Michonne and Rick had mapped out a route along what they used to call "blue highways"-the old roads folks used to travel on before the highways were built. This way they would keep to less populated areas and hoped to get pretty far by daylight. They were driving in shifts. Daryl had insisted that he was okay to drive the bike all night –he was too keyed up to even think about resting right now. Rick and Michonne and Carol had secretly agreed that after a few hours if it looked like he was wobbly they would find some place to pull off the road and get some rest. Aaron and Eric elected to be in the back, leaving Daryl and Maddie to ride in the lead. If the roads were clear enough the two vehicles would travel side by side.

After everyone was settled in, Rick nodded at Daryl and he started up the bike. "Hang on tight Mads," he murmured. She nodded and wrapped her arms tightly around him. Daryl started off, followed by Rick's vehicle, then Michonne's, then Aaron and Eric's bike. They had found some old access road on one of the maps not far from the shack and headed off in that direction. As they started off, they heard three more booms from the town. More flames shot up into the sky. As Daryl navigated the way to the road, Maddie turned back and looked at the town. The sky above was lit up with flames and smoke was starting to plume out and around flames. She sighed and leaned her cheek against Daryl's back. She had asked him where they had decided to go, and he had just smiled and told her it was a surprise. She just hoped that was the only surprise she would encounter on this trip. She tightened her grip around Daryl's waist as he gunned the bike and sped up rapidly once they hit a decent stretch. "I love you Daryl Dixon," she murmured and kissed his back. She knew he couldn't hear her, but she wanted to say it out loud just the same.

THE END


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